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Gold/Mining/Energy : Big Dog's Boom Boom Room -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: CommanderCricket who wrote (76862)	12/27/2006 10:52:44 PM
From: aerosappy	Respond to of 206328

RJ Energy Stat of the Week, published 12/26/2006. Venezuela's 30%+ oil production decline since 2001 is one of the worst declines of any major oil producing country. The country's inability to meet its OPEC quota makes the government famously hawkish when it comes to defending an oil price floor for the group. This fact, along with a lack of foreign investment in the Venezuelan energy sector, should be seen as bullish factors for global oil prices. With Chavez set to rule for another six years, until 2012, we do not see this changing at any point in the foreseeable future. Furthermore, the entire political map of Latin America continues to shift towards left-wing governments with generally anti-trade and anti-investment policies. Resource nationalism, although also visible in places like Russia (e.g., Sakhalin-2), is especially prevalent now in Latin America. Venezuela exemplifies this trend, but countries like Bolivia and Ecuador are also becoming less attractive destinations for foreign operators. As a result, oil production from Latin America has been stagnating for years (with the exception of Brazil), and we do not foresee a return to meaningful growth over the intermediate-term.