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US energy security plans threatened by militant Venezuela
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
oil and energy trends
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1744-7992
pISSN - 0950-1045
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7992.2005.300903.x
Subject(s) - upstream (networking) , militant , western hemisphere , investment (military) , politics , petroleum industry , middle east , threatened species , business , crude oil , oil reserves , energy security , economic policy , political science , economy , economics , international trade , petroleum , law , engineering , renewable energy , petroleum engineering , ecology , habitat , biology , telecommunications , paleontology , electrical engineering , environmental engineering
Faced with the need to import increasing volumes of crude oil and the desire to avoid over‐dependence on the Middle East, the United States is looking to its own hemisphere for more oil. Unfortunately for Washington, the continent's largest oil exporter does not appear to want to co‐operate. Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez, wants to reduce his country's political and economic ties with the US and is seeking other markets for its oil. He has also picked a fight with US oil companies operating in Venezuela, disputing their taxes and refusing to approve their upstream investment programmes, giving rise to fears that oil and gas production will not grow as planned, thereby reducing future export levels.