Russia's Invasion of Ukraine (Official Thread)
- Thread starter newarkhiphop
- Start date
So you just chose to come to HL and decided to be ignorant. OK.
Imagine being proud to be a simpleton.
Neo. The Only. The One.
THE ONE
Shame on you brehs who are still passing along russian disinformation when the money has dried up.
At least the Republicans were Putin's hoe as long as the check cleared and now that the money is cut off, even they are calling for his head.
But some of my brothas are hoes for free. You hate to see it
Disclosure
Pro
I know that certain people are getting exited about The United States possibly easing sanctions on the Venezuelan oil industry in a bid to lower prices here. Maduro has been lobbying bondholders, Senators, anyone who would listen to ease sanctions for almost a decade, basically since he assumed office.
Dont get me wrong I want Biden to get a win no matter what but this is a little more complicated then it appears.
Rosneft sold all of its Venezuelan holdings directly to the Russian government in 2020 (anything that says gazprom is Rosnedt because they bought out Gazprom in 2014)
My AQ piece: “Russia Is Beating China to Venezuela’s Oil Fields”
Rosneft Leaves Venezuela - Geopolitical Futures
any oil company operating in Venezuela has to accept a 60/40 split so when you see 40% ownership on this map that is the max that a company can own as of now.
Venezuela owes China $55 billion and Russia $17 billion
Who owns Venezuela's oil and debt? - CNN
There are American companies still operating in Venezuela so the American oil companies wont actually be directly helping the Russian government
US extends Venezuela wind-down for Chevron, oil service companies to Dec. 1
What will be interesting to see is how the United States can ease sanctions but still recognize Juan Guiado as president of Venezuela. The debt that Venezuela pays back to Russia goes directly to the government now, not a private company. That really cant be helped but I doubt most voters actually care except for exiles in Miami which could possibly hurt democrats in Florida in 2024 but honestly Florida is probably solid red at this point. This could be a win for Biden if the price of a barrel of oil can stay below $100 but this is also a win for Maduro as well which can be used by Republicans against Democrats in 2024.
Venezuela Asks Wall Street to Help Lift U.S. Sanctions So Oil Can Flow
Regime urges debtholders to pressure Biden administration, which is wary of fast-rising oil prices caused by Ukraine war
By Patricia Garip
March 3, 2022 8:00 am ET
With energy prices soaring because of war in Ukraine, Wall Street firms and other U.S. investors are seeing an opening to press the Biden administration to lift sanctions against a potentially major Western Hemisphere producer of crude, Venezuela.
Venezuela’s regime, anxious to regain access to international credit and attract foreign investment to get a feeble economy going again, has been quietly sweetening the pot for Wall Street bondholders so they help persuade the Biden administration to start removing sanctions.
Though President Nicolás Maduro’s close relationship with Moscow could spoil bridge-building efforts, the Biden administration is wary of the impact of rising oil prices on gasoline pumps at home. The war in Ukraine—and the resulting rise in Brent crude, which at its peak Wednesday marked an increase of nearly 70% since Dec. 1—is leading U.S. policy makers to consider easing Venezuela sanctions to temper prices by releasing more crude into the market, said a person familiar with the administration’s thinking on the matter.
The State Department declined to comment.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has had a close relationship with Russia, which could complicate any bridge-building efforts by the Biden administration.
Photo: Miguel Gutierrez/EPA/Shutterstock
In the 1990s, Venezuela was a petro power, producing more than three million barrels of crude daily. But production fell dramatically as the Socialist regime fired thousands of engineers and other state oil company workers, nationalized oil ventures and made it harder for private firms to invest. Sanctions leveled in 2019 against the state oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela SA, took a toll, with production falling to 300,000 barrels a day in 2020 before rising to about 760,000 barrels daily last year.
Now emissaries for Mr. Maduro are promoting investment opportunities—including in the oil industry—and promising to restructure about $60 billion in bond debt held by Wall Street asset managers including Fidelity, T. Rowe Price and BlackRock, along with non-U.S. funds.
They are also offering infrastructure concessions, oil and gas reserves and asset privatizations in exchange for a restructuring of the debt that started falling into default in 2017. The sanctions impede debt-for-equity opportunities that would help U.S. bondholders to recover at least part of what Venezuela owes.
In January, more than two dozen financial-sector executives, including several American, European and Venezuelan business people, met in a videoconference with Patricio Rivera, a former economy minister of Ecuador who is leading the initiative for Mr. Maduro. Mr. Rivera touted a rebound in Venezuela’s oil production, the end of hyperinflation and structural reforms, including lower gasoline-price subsidies. The charm offensive wrapped up with an image of the country’s Angel Falls to drive home the message of a new, budding Venezuela filled with investment opportunities.
Venezuela‘s state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, saw its production fall to 300,000 barrels a day in 2020 before rebounding to about 760,000 barrels daily last year.
Photo: Manaure Quintero/Bloomberg News
“The presentation was professional,” said Juan Blandi, director of Uruguayan asset manager Copernico, which holds Venezuelan bonds. “The implicit message was asking bondholders to lobby for a change in the sanctions regime.”
The proposals to privatize are startling for a regime that for years seized oil projects, mines, factories and hundreds of private companies, holding itself up as a model of 20th century socialism and a bulwark against American capitalism.
Mr. Maduro came to power in 2013, after the death of strongman Hugo Chávez. As Venezuela’s regime slowly dismantled democracy, with Mr. Maduro winning an election that the U.S. and European Union considered fraudulent in 2018, the White House began imposing increasingly aggressive sanctions. In January 2019, the administration of then-President Donald Trump stripped recognition of Mr. Maduro’s government and barred U.S. companies from buying or producing Venezuelan oil.
By designating Mr. Rivera, the former economy minister of Ecuador, as the point person to engage with Wall Street, Mr. Maduro went with a technocrat distinct from regime officials accused by the U.S. of corruption and rights abuses.
Related Video
Russia’s attack on Ukraine helped push the price of oil to over $100 a barrel for the first time since 2014. Here’s how rising oil costs could further boost inflation across the U.S. economy. Photo illustration: Todd Johnson
“If all the sanctions were lifted—monetary, financial and banking sanctions on Venezuela—Venezuela would respond to the bondholders the next day,” Mr. Maduro said in televised remarks in early February. “We are ready. We have a very solid proposal.”
U.S. bondholders say they are receptive to Mr. Maduro’s pitch. Currently the sanctions only allow them to sell, not buy, Venezuelan bonds. They say this trading ban gives investment funds from Europe, Latin America and the Middle East an advantage over U.S. funds. The bonds trade for as little as 4 cents on the dollar, a level that bondholders say is a bargain, but one available only to non-American funds.
“The U.S. should want as many U.S. firms at the table in a restructuring as possible,” said Hans Humes, chief executive officer of Greylock Capital Management, which holds Venezuelan bonds. “Instead, we’ve left the playing field open for everyone else.”
Venezuela’s economy is only just emerging from seven years of depression, which prompted an estimated six million people to flee abroad.
Photo: Carolina Cabral/Bloomberg News
A grocery vendor counts Venezuelan bolivars and U.S. dollars with a costumer in Caracas.
Photo: Cristian Hernandez/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
U.S. State Department officials said in February that the administration would review sanctions policies only if the regime makes “meaningful progress” in talks with the Venezuelan opposition designed to bring about free and fair presidential elections in 2024. The two sides are quietly working to restart talks in Mexico, according to sources close to the negotiators.
The Biden administration would like to selectively and strategically ease sanctions to win regime concessions, said people familiar with the thinking of the administration on Venezuela.
“There are many more voters in the U.S. who care about gasoline prices” than Venezuela, said one of the people. “Venezuela is low-hanging fruit.”
Venezuela’s economy is only just now emerging from a seven-year nosedive in which it contracted 80%, prompting six million people to flee abroad. Now there is a small uptick, which economists say can expand with the kind of investments U.S. companies are barred from making.
Aside from sanctions, Venezuela remains risky for bondholders and direct investors alike, said Jorge Piedrahita, CEO of New York-based advisory firm Gear Capital Partners.
Mr. Piedrahita cited the government’s disputed legitimacy, with the U.S. recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the country’s rightful leader. Businesses in Venezuela also contend with the lack of property rights, legal safeguards or an independent judiciary.
Still, the efforts by Mr. Maduro’s emissaries are reshaping some Wall Street sentiment toward Venezuela, according to people at firms who hold Venezuelan debt.
Carl Ross, who attended the January videoconference and is a partner at Boston-based investment firm GMO, which holds Venezuelan bonds, said the Venezuelan officials believe the “sanctions are killing them.”
“They would love to see the sanctions lifted, and they see any outreach to the private sector, domestic or foreign, as potentially helpful, since the sanctions are hurting investors as well,” said Mr. Ross. “They don’t want to be a pariah, and they realize that capital market access is going to be important for them.”
Several creditors are battling in U.S. courts to lay claim to oil-refining subsidiary Citgo, which operates in the U.S. but is owned by Venezuela.
Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images
Stephen Dizard, managing partner of New York-based Wood Capital Partners who also participated in the video call in January, said he believed Venezuela’s advisers provide the technical expertise to pull together debt-for-equity deals, but nothing would happen because of sanctions.
“For a restructuring, you need Washington’s cooperation,” said Mr. Dizard.
Unraveling Venezuela’s debt will be a complicated process in any event. In addition to the bond debt, Venezuela is in the hole for at least another $90 billion, according to a summary of Venezuela’s external liabilities published in 2019 by international law firm Cleary Gottlieb. The creditors are a hodgepodge that include the U.S. oil company ConocoPhillips. China also lent tens of billions to Caracas in the form of prepaid oil sales.
Several creditors are battling in U.S. courts to lay claim to oil refining subsidiary Citgo, which operates in the U.S. but is owned by Venezuela, to recover what they are owed. The U.S. government has blocked any takeover of Citgo, which has been controlled by Mr. Maduro’s opponents since 2019, when the Trump administration stopped recognizing him as the country’s legitimate president.
—Andrew Scurria and Kejal Vyas contributed to this article.
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Appeared in the March 4, 2022, print edition as 'Venezuela Seeks to Lift U.S. Sanctions to Boost Oil Sector.'
Regime urges debtholders to pressure Biden administration, which is wary of fast-rising oil prices caused by Ukraine war
By Patricia Garip
March 3, 2022 8:00 am ET
With energy prices soaring because of war in Ukraine, Wall Street firms and other U.S. investors are seeing an opening to press the Biden administration to lift sanctions against a potentially major Western Hemisphere producer of crude, Venezuela.
Venezuela’s regime, anxious to regain access to international credit and attract foreign investment to get a feeble economy going again, has been quietly sweetening the pot for Wall Street bondholders so they help persuade the Biden administration to start removing sanctions.
Though President Nicolás Maduro’s close relationship with Moscow could spoil bridge-building efforts, the Biden administration is wary of the impact of rising oil prices on gasoline pumps at home. The war in Ukraine—and the resulting rise in Brent crude, which at its peak Wednesday marked an increase of nearly 70% since Dec. 1—is leading U.S. policy makers to consider easing Venezuela sanctions to temper prices by releasing more crude into the market, said a person familiar with the administration’s thinking on the matter.
The State Department declined to comment.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has had a close relationship with Russia, which could complicate any bridge-building efforts by the Biden administration.
Photo: Miguel Gutierrez/EPA/Shutterstock
In the 1990s, Venezuela was a petro power, producing more than three million barrels of crude daily. But production fell dramatically as the Socialist regime fired thousands of engineers and other state oil company workers, nationalized oil ventures and made it harder for private firms to invest. Sanctions leveled in 2019 against the state oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela SA, took a toll, with production falling to 300,000 barrels a day in 2020 before rising to about 760,000 barrels daily last year.
Now emissaries for Mr. Maduro are promoting investment opportunities—including in the oil industry—and promising to restructure about $60 billion in bond debt held by Wall Street asset managers including Fidelity, T. Rowe Price and BlackRock, along with non-U.S. funds.
They are also offering infrastructure concessions, oil and gas reserves and asset privatizations in exchange for a restructuring of the debt that started falling into default in 2017. The sanctions impede debt-for-equity opportunities that would help U.S. bondholders to recover at least part of what Venezuela owes.
In January, more than two dozen financial-sector executives, including several American, European and Venezuelan business people, met in a videoconference with Patricio Rivera, a former economy minister of Ecuador who is leading the initiative for Mr. Maduro. Mr. Rivera touted a rebound in Venezuela’s oil production, the end of hyperinflation and structural reforms, including lower gasoline-price subsidies. The charm offensive wrapped up with an image of the country’s Angel Falls to drive home the message of a new, budding Venezuela filled with investment opportunities.
Venezuela‘s state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, saw its production fall to 300,000 barrels a day in 2020 before rebounding to about 760,000 barrels daily last year.
Photo: Manaure Quintero/Bloomberg News
“The presentation was professional,” said Juan Blandi, director of Uruguayan asset manager Copernico, which holds Venezuelan bonds. “The implicit message was asking bondholders to lobby for a change in the sanctions regime.”
The proposals to privatize are startling for a regime that for years seized oil projects, mines, factories and hundreds of private companies, holding itself up as a model of 20th century socialism and a bulwark against American capitalism.
Mr. Maduro came to power in 2013, after the death of strongman Hugo Chávez. As Venezuela’s regime slowly dismantled democracy, with Mr. Maduro winning an election that the U.S. and European Union considered fraudulent in 2018, the White House began imposing increasingly aggressive sanctions. In January 2019, the administration of then-President Donald Trump stripped recognition of Mr. Maduro’s government and barred U.S. companies from buying or producing Venezuelan oil.
By designating Mr. Rivera, the former economy minister of Ecuador, as the point person to engage with Wall Street, Mr. Maduro went with a technocrat distinct from regime officials accused by the U.S. of corruption and rights abuses.
Related Video
Russia’s attack on Ukraine helped push the price of oil to over $100 a barrel for the first time since 2014. Here’s how rising oil costs could further boost inflation across the U.S. economy. Photo illustration: Todd Johnson
“If all the sanctions were lifted—monetary, financial and banking sanctions on Venezuela—Venezuela would respond to the bondholders the next day,” Mr. Maduro said in televised remarks in early February. “We are ready. We have a very solid proposal.”
U.S. bondholders say they are receptive to Mr. Maduro’s pitch. Currently the sanctions only allow them to sell, not buy, Venezuelan bonds. They say this trading ban gives investment funds from Europe, Latin America and the Middle East an advantage over U.S. funds. The bonds trade for as little as 4 cents on the dollar, a level that bondholders say is a bargain, but one available only to non-American funds.
“The U.S. should want as many U.S. firms at the table in a restructuring as possible,” said Hans Humes, chief executive officer of Greylock Capital Management, which holds Venezuelan bonds. “Instead, we’ve left the playing field open for everyone else.”
Venezuela’s economy is only just emerging from seven years of depression, which prompted an estimated six million people to flee abroad.
Photo: Carolina Cabral/Bloomberg News
A grocery vendor counts Venezuelan bolivars and U.S. dollars with a costumer in Caracas.
Photo: Cristian Hernandez/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
U.S. State Department officials said in February that the administration would review sanctions policies only if the regime makes “meaningful progress” in talks with the Venezuelan opposition designed to bring about free and fair presidential elections in 2024. The two sides are quietly working to restart talks in Mexico, according to sources close to the negotiators.
The Biden administration would like to selectively and strategically ease sanctions to win regime concessions, said people familiar with the thinking of the administration on Venezuela.
“There are many more voters in the U.S. who care about gasoline prices” than Venezuela, said one of the people. “Venezuela is low-hanging fruit.”
Venezuela’s economy is only just now emerging from a seven-year nosedive in which it contracted 80%, prompting six million people to flee abroad. Now there is a small uptick, which economists say can expand with the kind of investments U.S. companies are barred from making.
Aside from sanctions, Venezuela remains risky for bondholders and direct investors alike, said Jorge Piedrahita, CEO of New York-based advisory firm Gear Capital Partners.
Mr. Piedrahita cited the government’s disputed legitimacy, with the U.S. recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the country’s rightful leader. Businesses in Venezuela also contend with the lack of property rights, legal safeguards or an independent judiciary.
Still, the efforts by Mr. Maduro’s emissaries are reshaping some Wall Street sentiment toward Venezuela, according to people at firms who hold Venezuelan debt.
Carl Ross, who attended the January videoconference and is a partner at Boston-based investment firm GMO, which holds Venezuelan bonds, said the Venezuelan officials believe the “sanctions are killing them.”
“They would love to see the sanctions lifted, and they see any outreach to the private sector, domestic or foreign, as potentially helpful, since the sanctions are hurting investors as well,” said Mr. Ross. “They don’t want to be a pariah, and they realize that capital market access is going to be important for them.”
Several creditors are battling in U.S. courts to lay claim to oil-refining subsidiary Citgo, which operates in the U.S. but is owned by Venezuela.
Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images
Stephen Dizard, managing partner of New York-based Wood Capital Partners who also participated in the video call in January, said he believed Venezuela’s advisers provide the technical expertise to pull together debt-for-equity deals, but nothing would happen because of sanctions.
“For a restructuring, you need Washington’s cooperation,” said Mr. Dizard.
Unraveling Venezuela’s debt will be a complicated process in any event. In addition to the bond debt, Venezuela is in the hole for at least another $90 billion, according to a summary of Venezuela’s external liabilities published in 2019 by international law firm Cleary Gottlieb. The creditors are a hodgepodge that include the U.S. oil company ConocoPhillips. China also lent tens of billions to Caracas in the form of prepaid oil sales.
Several creditors are battling in U.S. courts to lay claim to oil refining subsidiary Citgo, which operates in the U.S. but is owned by Venezuela, to recover what they are owed. The U.S. government has blocked any takeover of Citgo, which has been controlled by Mr. Maduro’s opponents since 2019, when the Trump administration stopped recognizing him as the country’s legitimate president.
—Andrew Scurria and Kejal Vyas contributed to this article.
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Appeared in the March 4, 2022, print edition as 'Venezuela Seeks to Lift U.S. Sanctions to Boost Oil Sector.'
Dont get me wrong I want Biden to get a win no matter what but this is a little more complicated then it appears.
Rosneft sold all of its Venezuelan holdings directly to the Russian government in 2020 (anything that says gazprom is Rosnedt because they bought out Gazprom in 2014)
My AQ piece: “Russia Is Beating China to Venezuela’s Oil Fields”
Rosneft Leaves Venezuela - Geopolitical Futures
any oil company operating in Venezuela has to accept a 60/40 split so when you see 40% ownership on this map that is the max that a company can own as of now.
Venezuela owes China $55 billion and Russia $17 billion
Who owns Venezuela's oil and debt? - CNN
There are American companies still operating in Venezuela so the American oil companies wont actually be directly helping the Russian government
US extends Venezuela wind-down for Chevron, oil service companies to Dec. 1
What will be interesting to see is how the United States can ease sanctions but still recognize Juan Guiado as president of Venezuela. The debt that Venezuela pays back to Russia goes directly to the government now, not a private company. That really cant be helped but I doubt most voters actually care except for exiles in Miami which could possibly hurt democrats in Florida in 2024 but honestly Florida is probably solid red at this point. This could be a win for Biden if the price of a barrel of oil can stay below $100 but this is also a win for Maduro as well which can be used by Republicans against Democrats in 2024.
Killah Ray
Carolina hail to thee....
I paid $47 for my Highlander to be filled up, and I thought that was too much. $86, and you might have to start pimping delusional hoes to fill your tank
Hopped in my wife's car since we were going out on a family day and I see the shyt is on damn near all the way E....I look at her like you couldn't stop to get gas even at the full service station in town? And she was like she had to rush home because our oldest was screaming in the car he had to use the bathroom....Chick saw those premium prices and waited on my dumbass...
Tell biden that because his speech was all about trying to fight inflation with his policy outside of the FED.The President doesn't have control over inflation breh. That's the job of the Fed. They set the policies to meet the inflation targets. Did you not learn this in school?
Why would he trust strange women instead? One could just as easily poison him
The simple solution is he wants to fukk them
Killah Ray
Carolina hail to thee....
Neo. The Only. The One.
THE ONE
Not their goal but I'm sure they don't mind.
After all, this was Kruschev's plan for the US back in the early 60s.
What's good for the gander....
Trust Me
Coli Prophet
Oh, so you want YOUR president to be Clark Kent in front of the camera, and
in the war room huh? Aint that somethin...
What if I were to tell you ... nevermind.
Secure Da Bag
Veteran
I feel for those people. Where's all this humanity when black and brown countries are getting the shyt bombed out of them?
That's politicking for points. The only things really making an impact are raising interest rates and waiting for the world supply chain to catch up to demand.
We're getting off topic but the Fed knew there would be a high risk of inflation at the very outset of their Covid-recovery monetary policy.
Pull Up the Roots
I have a good time when I go out of my mind..
How does that make sense?