Viernes, 14 de diciembre de 2012
Moisés Naím nos lleva a este artículo poco comentado en el Financial Times:
The US dependence of Venezuelan net crude and oil products exports (including the US Virgin Islands, which largely refined Venezuelan crude to export into the US) has dropped to levels last seen nearly 30 years ago.
The sharp drop is due to three factors. Overall US oil imports are down on the back of the shale boom. In addition, the closure of a large refinery in the US Virgin Islands co-owned by Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) has further reduced imports of Venezuelan-origin oil products. And more recently, Venezuela has started to import large amounts of US-made gasoline to offset a local shortage.
The reduction in US imports of Venezuelan-origin crude and oil products has been going on for the last five years. The new factor is the surge in US exports of oil products into Venezuela. In September, US refiners shipped a record of 196,000 b/d of gasoline and other oil products to Caracas.
Este último aumento, por cierto, está relacionado a la explosión de Amuay.
Para finalizar el FT dice que Chávez podría en el futuro amenazar a EEUU por un embargo petrolero, pero que ahora esta “amenaza ya no preocupará a Washington.”
Para ser sincero, yo creo que esta amenaza jamás le ha quitado el sueño a Obama.