My interview on PDVSA Petrocaribe and corruption

[jose chalhoub + 388]

https://www.cijn.org/venezuela-petrocaribe-and-the-orgy-of-corruption/. Hello everyone, wanted to share with you my recent interview for a media institute in Trinidad on the corruption surrounding Petrocaribe and PDVSA in Venezuela from my personal past experience insights during my stay in the industry. Hope you enjoy it and serves for a debate here. Cheers everyone! 

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

3 hours ago, jose chalhoub said:

https://www.cijn.org/venezuela-petrocaribe-and-the-orgy-of-corruption/. Hello everyone, wanted to share with you my recent interview for a media institute in Trinidad on the corruption surrounding Petrocaribe and PDVSA in Venezuela from my personal past experience insights during my stay in the industry. Hope you enjoy it and serves for a debate here. Cheers everyone! 

Well done Jose!

 

... Jose Chalhoub, a former security and risk analyst with PDVSA said PetroCaribe operations were under the control of a close relative of Hugo Chavez, Astrubal Chavez. 

On its face, his appointment was clear nepotism.  But what stands out is that all the people Astrubal Chavez dispatched to oversee the joint projects were also political appointees. 

Chalhoub told CIJN there was no evidence any of them had experience in the oil industry.  Between 2010 and 2012, Chalhoub and his team members traveled to Grenada, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent, Curacao, Bonaire and Domenica.

“Nepotism.  I just saw corruption everywhere, mishandling of resources by a few, actually the Directors of PDVSA of these joint ventures in each of these islands,” Chalhoub said.

In El Salvador, he learned his security counterparts were headed up by a man who boasted he had been a leader within MARA, the gangs known today in the U.S. as MS-13.  They appeared to be driving around in expensive cars and using Venezuelan money to host lavish dinners for members of the ruling leftist political party FMLN.

In Jamaica, his security counterparts warned fuel was being diverted from the PetroJam refinery for sale on the black market. 

 “We were also told (by members of the local team) that there were cases of oil spills, thefts and (unauthorized) pipelines connecting to the storage tanks in the Petrojam facility.  They were denouncing that. They were reporting to us that those cases were current and something had to be done.”

As leader of international analyses, Chalhoub said when he and a team returned from these islands and filed their reports, complete with dire warnings of theft and corruption, they were simply shelved.

“It’s really sad and it’s really tragic but nothing substantial, nothing significant…any cure or any solution to these irregularities or issues” was enacted by PDVSA said Chalhoub.  “Nothing was ever done.”

He said PDVSA never asked its security and risk control teams to make return trips to further investigate alleged corruption.  

For more on PDVSA’s lack of oversight, see the complete interview with Jose Chalhoub.

 

[jose chalhoub + 388]

Thanks sir @Tom Kirkman

[canadas canadas + 136]

What ever happened to VENIROGC (Venezuela-Iran Oil and Gas Company)?  The U.S. used to be the biggest investor and buyer regarding the Venezuela petroleum industry until Hugo Chavez started favoring countries that were opposed to the U.S. like Iran.

[jose chalhoub + 388]

4 hours ago, canadas canadas said:

What ever happened to VENIROGC (Venezuela-Iran Oil and Gas Company)?  The U.S. used to be the biggest investor and buyer regarding the Venezuela petroleum industry until Hugo Chavez started favoring countries that were opposed to the U.S. like Iran.

All that is gone. No iranian oil company doing deals with PDVSA so far. PETROPARS left years ago. 

[jose chalhoub + 388]

PDVSA also is giving some hints to open up to foreign investments but surely ROSNEFT is the largest foreign state oil company in deals with PDVSA currently while US companies like CHEVRON HALLIBURTON BAKER are still in Venezuela after a renewal of the waiver by the White House and remain here for strategic reasons in my view. Maybe for a post Maduro scenario eventually.

[Ward Smith + 6,615]

Petrocaribe and the orgy of corruption