"How did the condition of Venezuela’s environment become so dire?" China and Russia "helping", after 25+ years of communist neglect, that's how!
A mandatory read for all of the sympathizers and supporters of "socialism" and their fawning over proponents of this sick 'philosophy' be they foreign or domestic. Supporters of Zohran Mamdani, Bernie Sanders, and the rest of the " democratic socialist", take heed. The fine results in Venezuela (80% of the population living in poverty, zoo animals eating each other, domestic pets eaten for survival, and the environment spoiled for generations) is not a fluke, it is THE RESULT, everywhere this toxic nonsense is sold!
Don't whine over the atrocities of capitalism, until you have the atrocities of socialism finely digested.
While not explicitly mentioned, Darren Woods' (ExxonMobil Chairman) characterization of Venezuela as "uninvestible" included a thorough understanding of the environmental issues. While President Trump didn't appreciate hearing this, Chris Wright needs to condense this post into a 10 minute slide presentation with lots of photos.
What a great piece for an average person like myself. Greatly appreciate the detailed information, it’s extremely complicated to say the least. Beyond the complexity, there is some simplicity, the dreams of “ecosocialism” always seem to end in nightmares. For more than 2 decades I traveled and worked all through regions of the United States that have major oil/gas fields. One common thread is the infrastructure not limited to but including well sites, storage facilities, pumping stations, roads, etc are in superb condition. I just spent a week in SW Kansas and the oil/gas industry there should be commended on the excellent state of being. I personally believe the roads leading thru many of the areas we traveled to hunt would be useless if it weren’t for the fact they are also used to support oil/gas fields. Many are on private property and many are on federal land, all maintained equally well. And around the sites, everything was clean and safe. It’s been like that in every region I have visited. The true power of our well being is provided by the profits made to supply the critical energy we must have to enjoy our own lives everyday. As Doomberg points out “Energy is life” we are blessed with a great industry in America. 🇺🇸
Well, people who can get GSPs to behave like you ain't exactly "average" but we appreciate the modesty.
Space limitations stopped us from using the environmental Kuznets curve to demonstrate that exactly zero nations operating under any Collectivist economy or political structure have ever crossed the "tipping point" in the EKC, where the rate of environmental degradation actually declines with continued economic growth. Venezuela wasn't going to be the first.
Good observations in your travels. That's the EKC at work. More energy out of the ground with less impact per unit ... one iteration.
Is it really the least bit surprising that Venezuela is an environmental mess?
Of course not, like all socialist governments, reality is a minor annoyance that gets in the way of the socialist dream. As an example, look at your quote:
“Ecosocialism is poetry, it is song, it is future, it is hope, it is the tender gaze of a child knowing that they will have a planet where they can develop as a species, Ecosocialism above all things, is life, it is spirituality, it is peace.”
What is so obviously missing? Any discussion of the actual environment and its conditions.
Like all leftists, they live in a fantasy world of kumbaya, music, love, brotherhood, and spirituality, and the realities of invention, creation, production, work, and the addressing of resulting externalities are irrelevant and just part of the “capitalist” agenda.
Parenthetically, this might explain why leftists always seem to have time to protest and riot in the middle of the day when the rest of us are working, and always seem to be banging on drums and playing cheap guitars.
Good green vibes, Urs ... good green vibes, they got!
I'm retired so maybe I will go grab some drums and cheap guitars and counter protest when they come to my town. Or better yet, a violin and draw all the attention from their protest, like this shining example (you'll know me by the green hair and the spiked dog collar with the leash on it ... our logo...) > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=665m76WmrDo&t=1s
PS - I can’t unsee that video, but as someone who was born in and used to work in NYC, she’s just like all the other crazies. Mental illness is more widespread than we are led to believe.
Incredibly thorough breakdown. The Ecuador precedent is exactly what keeps corporate counsel awake at night on deals like this, even if the RICO ruling exposed the frauid. I've seen similar risk calculus play out in M&A due diligence where enviro liability gets priced in and just kills deals. The Superfund analogy in comments nails it, operating a refinery on top of existing contamination is litigation bait no sane GC would sign off on.
We come from the world where we saw those risks spook major corporations off of all kinds of deals - M&A ... purchase/sale/redevelopment of brownfield sites ... entire operating division divestitures/acquisitions by a competitor, etc., etc.
We are not suggesting the environmental risks will keep out any or all of the western majors. Only that for all of the talk of the political, legal, and other challenges facing any that wish to, the environmental risks are thoroughly underappreciated. And Ecuador and Steve Donziger proved to Chevron and western energy majors it is very real.
Yup. Length prohibited including this, but the environmental Kuznets curve applies here.
No country run under any form of Statist/Collectivist system has ever crossed the tipping point in the EKC (where environmental degradation starts to decline for each additional unit of growth).
(And thank goodness the drama teacher pretending to be Prime Minister of an energy super power has exited your stage. Or Canada's might have taken decades to fix).
Someone needs to explain this to Trump in terms he might understand. It is the equivalent of building a new casino on top of a vast un-remediated Superfund site, within a lawless and ungoverned area of criminally controlled roads and infrastructure. It would require complete legal indemnification to existing and future discoveries of contamination, and a well armed Army to be able to take over those operations. Essentially it is a war zone and would require the laws of war to be in operation in order to function. Merely funding a local operator would not eliminate this risk. The deepest pocket is always the legal target, and the local employees subject to kidnapping and worse would still be tied to the investor. It reminds me of what I saw firsthand in Albania after they overthrew communism- oil covered lakes, drill rigs sitting ion wells with pipe in the ground rusting away, and lawless areas that were impossible to enter without risking one's life. Property ownership in Albania was in complete chaos, and I have no doubt this is analogous to Venezuela, which began by taking property away from landholders decades ago. It is a place where the man with the gun makes the laws. Even entering Iraq right after the war in 2003 would have had more certainty than Venezuela today.
Besides security and environmental issues the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act often makes it impossible (and has caused Chevron problems in the past in Venezuela) to run operations in a country like Venezuela, where bribery and graft are likely common business practices. Its a mess.
Thanks for the added color on Albania and FCPA. Great points.
As for the Superfund analogy, it's worse.
During our careers, we advised many clients redeveloping CERCLA sites. Since none are ever remediated to laboratory ND (non detect) levels, some residual contamination is left in the soil and often groundwater. Remediation to ND isn't necessary to be protective to human health and the environment, even when readied for residential reuse. Engineering controls (impervious caps like asphalt) and institutional controls (groundwater withdrawal restrictions as covenants running with the land) are commonly used to deal with this residual risk.
What always advised clients they never wanted to do was to put any operation on that brownfield site that used, generated, or stored and chemical or petroleum compound (or daughter product) on that property (other than amounts necessary for maintenance or the operation of a diesel generator tank, and then the latter only in a vaulted above ground storage tank) that was in the Superfund record. The best way to avoid the risk of commingling new vs. old contaminants on such is to eliminate the risk of new contributions of existing compounds.
In that regard, this is worse than a casino on a Superfund site. It's a refinery on a Superfund site.
Maybe it is precisely because he knows they will step in to the void (and not want to write off the debts they're owed) that he is encouraging western energy co's to be there in force.
When analyzing, it's best to be driven by reason and fact, not emotion.
This column provides a great description of the state of oil and gas production in Venezuela as well as mining. The extensive damage to the environment is appalling. Well done.
environMENTAL, another job well done, thank you.
"How did the condition of Venezuela’s environment become so dire?" China and Russia "helping", after 25+ years of communist neglect, that's how!
A mandatory read for all of the sympathizers and supporters of "socialism" and their fawning over proponents of this sick 'philosophy' be they foreign or domestic. Supporters of Zohran Mamdani, Bernie Sanders, and the rest of the " democratic socialist", take heed. The fine results in Venezuela (80% of the population living in poverty, zoo animals eating each other, domestic pets eaten for survival, and the environment spoiled for generations) is not a fluke, it is THE RESULT, everywhere this toxic nonsense is sold!
Don't whine over the atrocities of capitalism, until you have the atrocities of socialism finely digested.
Yep. And expect to have moral dysentery when you do.
😉
Excellent analysis.... very eye opening.
Appreciate it!
Superb!
Thanks!
While not explicitly mentioned, Darren Woods' (ExxonMobil Chairman) characterization of Venezuela as "uninvestible" included a thorough understanding of the environmental issues. While President Trump didn't appreciate hearing this, Chris Wright needs to condense this post into a 10 minute slide presentation with lots of photos.
Good idea. That and we could make it into a video put to a 60's or 70's song he'd recognize since he's using Credence Clearwater Revival.
;)
What a great piece for an average person like myself. Greatly appreciate the detailed information, it’s extremely complicated to say the least. Beyond the complexity, there is some simplicity, the dreams of “ecosocialism” always seem to end in nightmares. For more than 2 decades I traveled and worked all through regions of the United States that have major oil/gas fields. One common thread is the infrastructure not limited to but including well sites, storage facilities, pumping stations, roads, etc are in superb condition. I just spent a week in SW Kansas and the oil/gas industry there should be commended on the excellent state of being. I personally believe the roads leading thru many of the areas we traveled to hunt would be useless if it weren’t for the fact they are also used to support oil/gas fields. Many are on private property and many are on federal land, all maintained equally well. And around the sites, everything was clean and safe. It’s been like that in every region I have visited. The true power of our well being is provided by the profits made to supply the critical energy we must have to enjoy our own lives everyday. As Doomberg points out “Energy is life” we are blessed with a great industry in America. 🇺🇸
Well, people who can get GSPs to behave like you ain't exactly "average" but we appreciate the modesty.
Space limitations stopped us from using the environmental Kuznets curve to demonstrate that exactly zero nations operating under any Collectivist economy or political structure have ever crossed the "tipping point" in the EKC, where the rate of environmental degradation actually declines with continued economic growth. Venezuela wasn't going to be the first.
Good observations in your travels. That's the EKC at work. More energy out of the ground with less impact per unit ... one iteration.
Is it really the least bit surprising that Venezuela is an environmental mess?
Of course not, like all socialist governments, reality is a minor annoyance that gets in the way of the socialist dream. As an example, look at your quote:
“Ecosocialism is poetry, it is song, it is future, it is hope, it is the tender gaze of a child knowing that they will have a planet where they can develop as a species, Ecosocialism above all things, is life, it is spirituality, it is peace.”
What is so obviously missing? Any discussion of the actual environment and its conditions.
Like all leftists, they live in a fantasy world of kumbaya, music, love, brotherhood, and spirituality, and the realities of invention, creation, production, work, and the addressing of resulting externalities are irrelevant and just part of the “capitalist” agenda.
Parenthetically, this might explain why leftists always seem to have time to protest and riot in the middle of the day when the rest of us are working, and always seem to be banging on drums and playing cheap guitars.
Good green vibes, Urs ... good green vibes, they got!
I'm retired so maybe I will go grab some drums and cheap guitars and counter protest when they come to my town. Or better yet, a violin and draw all the attention from their protest, like this shining example (you'll know me by the green hair and the spiked dog collar with the leash on it ... our logo...) > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=665m76WmrDo&t=1s
🤣🤣🍿🍿
PS - I can’t unsee that video, but as someone who was born in and used to work in NYC, she’s just like all the other crazies. Mental illness is more widespread than we are led to believe.
Incredibly thorough breakdown. The Ecuador precedent is exactly what keeps corporate counsel awake at night on deals like this, even if the RICO ruling exposed the frauid. I've seen similar risk calculus play out in M&A due diligence where enviro liability gets priced in and just kills deals. The Superfund analogy in comments nails it, operating a refinery on top of existing contamination is litigation bait no sane GC would sign off on.
We come from the world where we saw those risks spook major corporations off of all kinds of deals - M&A ... purchase/sale/redevelopment of brownfield sites ... entire operating division divestitures/acquisitions by a competitor, etc., etc.
We are not suggesting the environmental risks will keep out any or all of the western majors. Only that for all of the talk of the political, legal, and other challenges facing any that wish to, the environmental risks are thoroughly underappreciated. And Ecuador and Steve Donziger proved to Chevron and western energy majors it is very real.
Thank you for the comment.
When the same people who run the economy also set the rules, the only result can be this.
It’s 100% locked in sure thing.
Yup. Length prohibited including this, but the environmental Kuznets curve applies here.
No country run under any form of Statist/Collectivist system has ever crossed the tipping point in the EKC (where environmental degradation starts to decline for each additional unit of growth).
Nice to hear what’s really going on, and has been, in Venezuela. Not all rosy now that Maduro has been pulled out.
Hardly rosy. Same in Cuba, but without the extent of environmental damage from oil and mining, but the rest of the socialist wreckage for much longer.
Ecosocialism takes decades to fix.
Look at Russia.
It will be 100 years to clean up China.
It’s been 3 weeks, right?
Yup.
(And thank goodness the drama teacher pretending to be Prime Minister of an energy super power has exited your stage. Or Canada's might have taken decades to fix).
Someone needs to explain this to Trump in terms he might understand. It is the equivalent of building a new casino on top of a vast un-remediated Superfund site, within a lawless and ungoverned area of criminally controlled roads and infrastructure. It would require complete legal indemnification to existing and future discoveries of contamination, and a well armed Army to be able to take over those operations. Essentially it is a war zone and would require the laws of war to be in operation in order to function. Merely funding a local operator would not eliminate this risk. The deepest pocket is always the legal target, and the local employees subject to kidnapping and worse would still be tied to the investor. It reminds me of what I saw firsthand in Albania after they overthrew communism- oil covered lakes, drill rigs sitting ion wells with pipe in the ground rusting away, and lawless areas that were impossible to enter without risking one's life. Property ownership in Albania was in complete chaos, and I have no doubt this is analogous to Venezuela, which began by taking property away from landholders decades ago. It is a place where the man with the gun makes the laws. Even entering Iraq right after the war in 2003 would have had more certainty than Venezuela today.
Besides security and environmental issues the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act often makes it impossible (and has caused Chevron problems in the past in Venezuela) to run operations in a country like Venezuela, where bribery and graft are likely common business practices. Its a mess.
Thanks for the added color on Albania and FCPA. Great points.
As for the Superfund analogy, it's worse.
During our careers, we advised many clients redeveloping CERCLA sites. Since none are ever remediated to laboratory ND (non detect) levels, some residual contamination is left in the soil and often groundwater. Remediation to ND isn't necessary to be protective to human health and the environment, even when readied for residential reuse. Engineering controls (impervious caps like asphalt) and institutional controls (groundwater withdrawal restrictions as covenants running with the land) are commonly used to deal with this residual risk.
What always advised clients they never wanted to do was to put any operation on that brownfield site that used, generated, or stored and chemical or petroleum compound (or daughter product) on that property (other than amounts necessary for maintenance or the operation of a diesel generator tank, and then the latter only in a vaulted above ground storage tank) that was in the Superfund record. The best way to avoid the risk of commingling new vs. old contaminants on such is to eliminate the risk of new contributions of existing compounds.
In that regard, this is worse than a casino on a Superfund site. It's a refinery on a Superfund site.
bribery and graft aren’t likely business practices.
They are the business practices.
Because socialism.
Thanks for the background info.
I really doubt that anyone will touch it except China - as long as Trump is and his sycophants are available to screw things up.
China, Iran, Russia will happily step into the void.
That's exactly the problem - and Trump and his type - could care less.
Maybe it is precisely because he knows they will step in to the void (and not want to write off the debts they're owed) that he is encouraging western energy co's to be there in force.
When analyzing, it's best to be driven by reason and fact, not emotion.
I would agree except for two personal observations :
1.) there seems to be no serious US takers - because of the conditions of the location - and
2.) Trump is now such a visible disaster - that now one - except some one as decrepit as he is and can't be trusted for anything.
🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
Which means what? -- man-up and write something.
Thats all i have for you, endless eye rolls
HI Pat - you can have your own opinions and your own eyerolls -- but not your own facts.
If you disagree - at least have the cahones to do so honestly instead of hiding behind some stupid imogee.
Excellent look at the situation in Venezuela and the daunting obstacles to the country’s environmental and economic recovery.
Thank you!
My god what a mess!
Once more info starts coming out of the country expect to see even worse.
Mongabay, CSIS and others have written in greater detail, as have some of the environmental NGOs in country.
This column provides a great description of the state of oil and gas production in Venezuela as well as mining. The extensive damage to the environment is appalling. Well done.
Thanks, but this is just scratching the surface. As more detailed info surfaces, we may do another piece in greater detail.