OPEC: Venezuela

Here is a link to Venezuelan facts and figures on OPEC's website. According to the site, oil revenues account for 94% of export earnings, with the other 6% coming from natural gas, iron ore, gold, bauxite, diamonds and other minerals. OPEC's website also has information on other member countries, as well as a brief history of the organization, OPEC in the news, and data and graphs.

OPEC: Venezuela

**(note to self: post proper citations)

Research Outline

Here is an outline of my research on Venezuelan Oil- please feel free to comment with any questions/suggestions!

(**Note: I will be posting more research with references pertaining to my outline later in the day.)

Venezuela's History of Oil and Role in the Global Market

_Venezuela's history of oil

-Economic dependence

-Other industries of past/present importance to Venezuela and how they have been affected by the oil industry

-Nationalization of oil

-Rents on concession

_OPEC

-Importance

-Past/present roles of Venezuela

-Juan Pablo Perez Alfonso and the Texas Railroad Commission (TRC)

_Petroleos de Venezuela Sociedad Anonima (PDVSA)

-Role in Venezuela

-Global importance

_President Hugo Chavez

-Influence on the Venezuelan oil industry

-Support and opposition

_Present and Future Role in Global Oil Market

-Future key players

-Current relations with China and India

-Remaining reserves

A Brief History of the Venezuelan Oil Industry

This is a website I found pretty interesting- it gives a short history of the Venezuelan oil industry, a brief description of their current oil relations under Chavez, and discusses Venezuela's future relations with China and India.

http://www.freewebs.com/npre480venezuela/index.htm

Research Paper Outline

Rentismo is the tendency of monoculture economies, particularly those whose economic base is in the production and exportation of oil, to subsidize state projects with the excess yields of their main industry. Such tendency creates dependency, and diminishes creativity and competitiveness. Although many related examples of all the consequences of Rentismo issues are found all through history, today it is an issue most notoriously present in countries of weak economic and politic structure. A republic which clearly has being diminished by the ill of Rentismo is Venezuela. On this time, Venezuela remains a state whose strategies are mainly base on the development as well as on the stability of the oil industry and market. Being among the greatest oil economies of the world, an active member of OPEC, and having an eclectic endowment of natural and geographical resources, Venezuela, in principle, posses an enormous potential to ignite the inception of an integral and sustainable economy.  What strains are keep in it then, from achieving such potential? The following research project will focus on the issues associated with Rentismo:

• It will first draw a picture of the Venezuelan oil industry, to understand the political and economic causes for its current structure.
• Then, it will elaborate on present studies and forecasts of the Venezuelan potential and actual production of oil, in order to give some insides of the capacities of a mono-producer state.
• Finally, it will analyze Venezuela’s role in the oil global market.

Over-all this examination is expected to return a solid understanding for the reasons of Venezuela’s Magical State, as well as some suggestions of how to fade of the vicious cycle of Rentismo.

During the Times of Chavez

Here is a brief summary of the changes in the dynamic structure of the Venezuela's Oil Market, as published in the website of the Council of Foreing Relations.

Overview of Venezuela's Economy

Here follows a very interesting article by Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director of the Center of Economics and Policy Research (CEPR), and Rebbeca Ray.


Oil Prices and Venezuela's Economy
By Mark Weisbrot - CEPR, November 21st 2008

China to Lend Venezuela $20 Billion

This is a pretty interesting article I found that discusses China's growing relationship with Venezuela. Although the article is brief, it's pretty clear that China's economic and political power has a huge influence on Venezuelan oil; China has become Venezuela's second-largest importer of oil (next to the U.S.), and they have also helped Venezuela launch satellites and purchase military aircraft technology. It will certainly be interesting to see how this warming relationship will affect the future of the Venezuelan oil industry.

Link:

"Chavez Says China to Lend Venezuela $20 Billion"- NY Times