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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: abuelita who wrote (218924)1/3/2026 12:32:58 PM
From: abuelita  Respond to of 219476
 
Methinks USA is doing a tit for tat.

Give us what we want - rare earths, bulletproof piercing stuff and
unlimited silver and we will let you have your oil.

Maybe.



To: abuelita who wrote (218924)1/3/2026 10:07:59 PM
From: TobagoJack1 Recommendation

Recommended By
marcher

  Respond to of 219476
 
Re <<How will China react>>

Important-enough context: I do have first-hand fresh news from the epicenter of Venezuela ground by way of cousins mentioned long-ago, but first must let you know surrounding context ... and my direct responses by and by this and next few days ...
Message 28427695
Message 32004057
Message 32007669



To: abuelita who wrote (218924)1/4/2026 11:16:34 AM
From: TobagoJack  Respond to of 219476
 
Re <<How will China react>> … I still have not answer the question but encourage you to watch below vlog to the end …




To: abuelita who wrote (218924)1/4/2026 11:39:24 AM
From: TobagoJack  Respond to of 219476
 
Re <<How will China react>> … I have yet to answer your question from my PoV. In the meantime…
“Chinese firms are heavily invested in Venezuela’s infrastructure (power, telecoms) so efforts to exclude Chinese investments and operators from the country could lead to unintended consequences,” Michal Meidan, director of the China Energy Programme at Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, said on LinkedIn.

bloomberg.com

Trump Sees US Oil Producers Spending Billions in Venezuela

By Kevin Crowley, Jennifer A Dlouhy, and Lucia Kassai
January 4, 2026 at 7:15 AM GMT+8
An oil pumpjack on Lake Maracaibo in Cabimas, Zulia state, Venezuela.

Source: Bloomberg

President Donald Trump said US oil companies will spend billions of dollars to rebuild Venezuela’s crumbling energy infrastructure after a military operation that led to the capture of Nicolas Maduro, the country’s former leader.

During a press conference Saturday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump described an ambitious vision to use US financial resources and industry knowhow to restore the South American nation’s oil sector to its former glory.

US President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida on Jan. 3.Photographer: Nicole Combeau/Bloomberg“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies — the biggest anywhere in the world — go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure — the oil infrastructure — and start making money for the country,” Trump said. “They will be reimbursed.”

That kind of oil industry reconstruction would almost be without precedent, and Trump left many crucial questions unanswered. He didn’t commit to sending US troops to aid in a transition, saying only that his government would help ensure oil infrastructure was protected and improved.

It’s unclear how willing oil giants like Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips and others are to pour substantial sums of money into a country run by a temporary US-backed government without established legal and fiscal rules. Chevron continues to operate in Venezuela under a special license from the US, it said in a statement.

ConocoPhillips said it’s monitoring developments in Venezuela and their potential implications for global energy supply and stability, adding it would be “premature to speculate on any future business activities or investments.” Exxon didn’t respond to a request for comment Saturday.

Analysts and traders say it could easily take years for critical infrastructure to be fully repaired and for oil to freely flow out of Venezuela, which currently accounts for less than 1% of global supplies even though it has the world’s largest reserves.

Venezuela offers abundant below-ground oil potential, but it comes with substantial above-ground risks that haven’t disappeared following the US apprehension of Maduro, said an industry representative who asked for anonymity to speak candidly about the matter.

Low oil prices are another deterrent, especially given the level of investment that could be required. Some of the concerns have been communicated to Trump administration officials, the person said.

Trump’s plan for Venezuela is in line with his expansive vision of US energy dominance — with American companies not only driving record oil and gas production domestically but exerting their influence globally.

The president has repeatedly said he prizes low oil and gasoline prices, as he seeks to tame inflation and address cost-of-living concerns that are set to be a factor in November’s midterm elections. Oil prices ended 2025 with the steepest annual loss since 2020 and the global benchmark has slumped toward $60 a barrel.

Trump said the US will work with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez to transition to a democratically elected government after Maduro’s capture, but she and other regime leaders have thus far appeared uncooperative.

If Rodríguez is a willing partner, she could help the US ease a transition by maintaining stability with the current institutions in Venezuela.

Still, the amount of rebuilding that would need to be done is extensive. “Just stabilizing existing production will require low single-digit billions of dollars for workovers, power, water handling and export infrastructure repairs,” said Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group.

Big Oil Chevron is in pole position to help unlock more Venezuelan oil production as it already produces about 20% of the country’s oil, having operated under a sanctions waiver from the US government for most of the last decade.

Exxon and ConocoPhillips also have experience operating in Venezuela but quit the country after their assets were nationalized by Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, in the mid-2000s. Exxon has previously said it would look at investing in Venezuela but only under the right conditions.

“We’d have to see what the economics look like,” Exxon CEO Darren Woods said in November. “So I wouldn’t put it on the list or take it off the list.”

Strong economics and higher oil prices over the coming years could also entice other companies that are on the sidelines to reconsider operations in Venezuela, if they can see signs of stability and are offered concessions, analysts said.

Nearly every major oil company has been beguiled by the underground riches of Venezuela. Over the past century, they have discovered that there was a lot of money to be made, but also a lot to lose. Two waves of nationalization left a bad taste in the mouth of the likes of Shell Plc, Exxon and ConocoPhillips, with the latter two still due billions of dollars in compensation after their assets were seized.

ConocoPhillips has “significant incentives to return” and collect the more than $10 billion it’s owed, said Francisco Monaldi, director of Latin American energy policy at Rice University in Houston. But “it’s highly unlikely that major Western oil companies will engage in talks until there is political stability that clarifies the key players and the legal framework.”

The Chevron Corp. offices in Caracas.Source: BloombergThe exception is Chevron, which currently pumps about 140,000 barrels a day from Venezuela and ships it to refineries on the Gulf Coast under special license from the US government. The Houston-based company negotiated a series of deals to stay in the country under Chavez and continued operating with US permission under both Republican and Democrat administrations.

The company continues “to operate in full compliance with all relevant laws and regulations,” it said in a statement Saturday. Chevron is focused on the safety of its employees and the integrity of its assets, it said.

Until now, Chevron’s focus has largely been on getting its own debts repaid rather than pumping fresh dollars into growing production.

Uncertain FlowsWhile companies may be hesitant to re-enter Venezuela without assurances, a significant consideration for oil market watchers is whether crude tankers can keep loading. Several ships have turned away from Venezuela as the US launched a blockade in mid-December to seize vessels transporting oil that help fund the regime of Nicolas Maduro.

Trump said the oil blockade remains in place. But it’s clear he wants a US-backed administration to revive the country’s oil industry, bringing it back to its former heights in the mid-20th century when it was the world’s largest exporter and a founding member of OPEC.

The US president said on Saturday that America would sell “large amounts” of oil to current buyers and additional clients, without elaborating.

Trump suggested Venezuelan oil revenue could help fund a variety of causes — from reimbursing the US government for its spending in the country to compensating oil companies that have seen regional operations disrupted and assets seized. Venezuelans, both inside and outside the country, also will be “taken care of,” Trump promised.

China — the biggest buyer of oil from the South American country, as well as its largest creditor — condemned the US’s military strikes. Officially, China hasn’t taken the Venezuelan crude since March, but third-party and ship-tracking data indicate flows to the Asian nation remained robustlast year.

Currently, Venezuela produces around 800,000 barrels of oil a day, less than 1% of global output, according to Kpler, which tracks shipping data. Production could rise by about 150,000 barrels a day within a few months if sanctions are lifted, but getting back to 2 million barrels a day or higher would require “massive reforms” and large investments from international oil companies, according to Matt Smith, Americas lead oil analyst at Kpler.

The scale of reviving Venezuela’s oil industry is immense. To get there, companies would need to fix the country’s derelict oil infrastructure, overlooked by decades of mismanagement, corruption and lack of investments. Millions fled the country, including skilled oil personnel that now staff oil refineries, drilling companies and trading desks in the US, Middle East and Europe.

There’s also the question of other countries’ assets in Venezuela.

Spain’s Repsol, Italy’s Eni SpA and France’s Maurel et Prom SA are still present in Venezuela and partner in oil and gas ventures with state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA.

“Chinese firms are heavily invested in Venezuela’s infrastructure (power, telecoms) so efforts to exclude Chinese investments and operators from the country could lead to unintended consequences,” Michal Meidan, director of the China Energy Programme at Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, said on LinkedIn.

(Updates with comment from ConocoPhillips in paragraph six)



To: abuelita who wrote (218924)1/4/2026 11:57:23 AM
From: TobagoJack  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 219476
 
Re <<How will China react>> … I shall answer your question soon-enough. In the meantime monitor this unrelated but connected situation … am wondering when / if USA / UK forbid export of silver stored in Chicago / London. The silver producers rank so Mexico (34%), China (14%), Peru (13%), and Chile (6%) … etc
China is planet’s largest trader, processor, and user of silver due to electricity and capacity, Shanghai exchange for physical gold / silver, and to manufacturing (solar, EV, love of silver, etc) - close-enough for government-work, and if so let’s watch.

In the meantime monitor…




To: abuelita who wrote (218924)1/4/2026 5:41:30 PM
From: TobagoJack  Respond to of 219476
 
Re <<How will China react>> … oops, skipping again the read and analysis, even as I have an opinion. Let us see if you and I can arrive at the same place from not-same direction

I shall this day formulate my response and time-stamp it by PM to myself :0)

In the meantime…

Someone is trying to tell us something, that crowds are buying groceries




To: abuelita who wrote (218924)1/4/2026 6:59:40 PM
From: TobagoJack  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 219476
 
Re <<How China will react>> … Canada gets precious time, am told. In the meantime monitor…

I think Eli is quite humorous especially when heated up and stirred




To: abuelita who wrote (218924)1/4/2026 8:57:12 PM
From: Pogeu Mahone  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 219476
 
Did you see the interviews with all of the Venezuela citizens Very pleased with Trumps Moves?

Living in a dictatorship sucked now the people have hope.

Funny shit liberals always BS about making life better for the working class.



To: abuelita who wrote (218924)1/5/2026 6:46:52 PM
From: TobagoJack1 Recommendation

Recommended By
Secret_Agent_Man

  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 219476
 
Re <<How will China react>>
Trust you begin to see the merit of my earlier PM memo to you?

Do note that I absolutely highlighted the issue of Guyana here lightly touched on below

So yes, popcorn ready

Here is food for thought




To: abuelita who wrote (218924)1/5/2026 10:32:13 PM
From: TobagoJack  Respond to of 219476
 
re <<How will China react>> ... business as usual, business as business, all of which, btw, helpful to local economies here there everywhere, and does not involve robbery

bloomberg.com

China’s Hengyi Pushes Ahead With Brunei Oil Refinery Expansion


Hengyi Industries facilities in Brunei in 2019.Photographer: Xue Fei/Xinhua/Getty Images

By Alfred Cang

January 6, 2026 at 11:03 AM GMT+8

China’s Hengyi Petrochemical Co. will embark on a long-planned expansion of its Brunei oil refinery, more than doubling its capacity in the country and intensifying competition in global markets for fuels and plastics.

The company will launch the second phase of its Pulau Muara Besar refining and petrochemical complex, which it has operated since late 2019, with a view to finishing construction by the end of 2028, according to a statement on Tuesday. Hengyi’s Brunei unit has secured tax incentives from local authorities and financing from lenders, it said.

The plant’s capacity has been adjusted lower to 12 million tons a year, from an earlier plan of 14 million tons when the project was announced in 2020. On completion, it will push the Brunei unit’s total capacity to 20 million tons, producing mainly diesel, paraxylene, benzene, polypropylene and other higher-value refined oil and chemical products.

Global oil refining capacity is set to rebound this year after shrinking in 2025, according to BloombergNEF. Closures in Europe and North America bolstered margins in the second half of the year, allowing for more capacity in Asia.

Still, refiners in Southeast Asian countries have been challenged in recent years by rapid capacity growth in the region, driven largely by China.



To: abuelita who wrote (218924)1/5/2026 11:27:35 PM
From: TobagoJack  Respond to of 219476
 
Re <<How will China react>>




To: abuelita who wrote (218924)1/6/2026 2:12:39 AM
From: TobagoJack  Respond to of 219476
 
Re <<How will China react>> … another answer, “go cooperate with anyone else on anything, as you please; perhaps Rubio has a ready buyer” :0))))) and )

Nvidia chips anyone ?

bloomberg.com

Venezuelan Oil Shunned by China as Offers Get More Expensive

By Bloomberg News

January 6, 2026 at 2:01 PM GMT+8

Chinese buyers shunned offers for Venezuelan crude this week, as a US blockade on the South American producer constrains exports and pushes up prices.

Venezuela’s Merey crude was offered at a discount of $13 a barrel to ICE Brent, said people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the information is not public. That compares with a discount of as much as $15 a month ago, prior to the US campaign on sanctioned tankers.

Loadings of Venezuelan oil destined for China tumbled last month as the naval blockade ramped up, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Sellers have hiked Merey offers due to the shipping disruptions, the people said.

China is the biggest buyer of Venezuelan oil, and Merey is often used to make bitumen to pave roads in the Asian nation. A softer construction outlook and ample crude supplies held by refiners is offering a buffer, allowing buyers to sit on the sidelines and wait for better priced deals.

There’s also a growing hoard of sanctioned oil in floating storage that will cushion Chinese buyers if US action against Venezuela significantly chokes off flows. Almost 82 million barrels — including Venezuelan — are on tankers off China and Malaysia, according to data intelligence firm Kpler.



To: abuelita who wrote (218924)1/6/2026 4:26:52 AM
From: TobagoJack  Respond to of 219476
 
Re <<How will China react>> … suspect Bloomberg is slowly figuring out some part of the playbook and in the pillowcase about other parts. Bloomberg ostensibly imagines much about how little timely potential Venezuela has for near / medium term oil :0)

bloomberg.com

A World Split in Two Is Just What China Wants

January 6, 2026 at 9:10 AM GMT+8
Corrected
January 6, 2026 at 9:22 AM GMT+8

By Karishma Vaswani
Karishma Vaswani is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asia politics with a special focus on China. Previously, she was the BBC's lead Asia presenter and worked for the BBC across Asia and South Asia for two decades.


A world divided.

Photographer: Javier Torres/AFP/Getty Images

Takeaways by Bloomberg AI
  • America says its actions in Venezuela are about restoring order in its own backyard, but to Beijing, they look like confirmation that Washington is sliding toward a world divided into spheres of influence.
  • Ousted President Nicolás Maduro and his wife pleaded not guilty to multiple narco-terrorism charges after they were seized by US forces in Caracas, which also looks like a setback for China, Washington's strategic rival.
  • The idea of a world divided into spheres of influence is deeply appealing to Beijing, and American officials increasingly appear to be singing that tune, which could provide Beijing the time and space to consolidate pressure in the Indo-Pacific.
America says its actions in Venezuela are about restoring order in its own backyard. To Beijing, they look like confirmation that Washington is sliding toward a world divided into spheres of influence. This is precisely the kind of global order China wants.

Ousted President Nicolás Maduro and his wife appeared in a New York federal court Monday and pleaded not guilty to multiple narco-terrorism charges, after they were seized by US forces in Caracas on Saturday. Few in the country Maduro ruled with an iron first will mourn his removal. President Donald Trump can credibly claim, as my colleagues have written, that he’s brought down a blatantly illegitimate autocrat who stole an election, crushed dissent and ran an oil-rich economy into the ground, while trafficking in narcotics.
Maduro’s exit also looks like a setback for China, Washington’s strategic rival. Beijing is a big buyerof Venezuelan crude — with the caveat that the South American nation only accounted for about 4% of its imports last year — and its biggest creditor. That oil trade now looks uncertain. Trump has said Washington will oversee Caracas’ oil industry and sell its output to global buyers, but hasn’t clarified whether Beijing will be on that list. This complicates China’s strategy in Latin America, where it plans to increase investment.

The timing of the former president’s capture also appears to have been a significant intelligence failure for Beijing. A high-level delegation from China met with Maduro in Caracas just hours before the raid, exposing deep gaps in the world’s second-largest economy’s ability to gauge strategic threats.

Still, the longer-term geopolitical odds could tilt in China’s favor if Washington becomes distracted by Venezuela. This could provide Beijing the time and space to consolidate pressure in the Indo-Pacific, particularly around Taiwan and the South China Sea, two of its most sensitive strategic concerns.

The idea of a world divided into spheres of influence is deeply appealing to Beijing. It chips away at the post-World War II order the US helped to build and enforce, and aligns with President Xi Jinping’s long-held view that the world is undergoing “ great changes unseen in a century.”

American officials increasingly appear to be singing that tune. In an interview with NBC’sMeet the Press, Secretary of State Marco Rubio argued that the US must reassert influence close to home and push back against external powers operating in its backyard. “We are not going to be able to allow in our hemisphere a country that becomes a crossroads for the activities of all of our adversaries around the world,” he said.

The administration’s recently released National Security Strategy echoes that logic. It pledges to restore American preeminence in its own region, to enforce what it calls a “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine — the 1823 declaration warning European powers from encroaching in the Americas, invoked to justify US interventions in the region.

Beijing has already begun exploiting the moment. It has condemned US actions as a violation of international law, and called for the release of Maduro and his wife. That rhetoric is aimed squarely at audiences in the Global South, where countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesiahave also issued firm statements ranging from expressions of grave concern to outright censure.

America’s actions have given China “ cheap ammunition” to push back the next time Washington reprimands its actions in the Taiwan Strait or the South China Sea, notes William Yang, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group. None of this means that China will suddenly be emboldened to launch a war over Taiwan, the self-ruled island it claims as its own. Beijing’s decisions are driven primarily by military capability and domestic political calculations, not events halfway across the world.

But an America increasingly preoccupied with its own hemisphere will give it more confidence to intensify gray-zone pressure across the Indo-Pacific. Last month’s military exercises around Taiwan were a reminder that the People’s Liberation Army is rehearsing blockade scenarios, testing Taipei’s response while staying just below the threshold of open conflict.

The US-China rivalry in the Indo-Pacific has already pushed Asia’s middle powers such as Japan, Australia, Indonesia and New Zealand to increase defense spending and deepen regional cooperation. Japan has committed to a historic military buildup, including counterstrike capabilities. Meanwhile, South Korea is strengthening its deterrence posture and India is investing in naval power to expand its reach. These moves complicate the idea of a world divided into compliant regions, governed by strong powers while smaller ones acquiesce.

The world emerging under Trump increasingly resembles a modern version of the law of the jungle, where might-equals-right determines which power wins. That’s a game China knows how to play all too well.



To: abuelita who wrote (218924)1/6/2026 8:59:07 PM
From: TobagoJack  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 219476
 
re <<How will China react>>
Message 35383163 :0) maybe possibly perhaps



To: abuelita who wrote (218924)1/7/2026 3:03:19 AM
From: TobagoJack  Respond to of 219476
 
re <<How will China react>> … Team Trump should think about cutting checks for Venezuela or get Nvidia to buy the sour crude in exchange for GPUs - something innovative, I am told

The script remains on tight track, and tracking true

bloomberg.com

Venezuela’s Key Customer China No Longer Needs It

January 7, 2026 at 5:00 AM GMT+8

By David Fickling
David Fickling is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering climate change and energy. Previously, he worked for Bloomberg News, the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times.


China needs less crude from Venezuela.

Source: CFOTO/Future Publishing/Getty Images

Takeaways by Bloomberg
  • The US action to arrest Venezuela's former President Nicolas Maduro and seize control of the country's oil industry is an attempt to muscle China's influence out of the Americas.
  • Any durable solution to Venezuela's crisis is likely to involve someone buying more Venezuelan oil, with China being a central player due to its historical demand for Venezuelan crude.
  • China's appetite for oil is sated, with demand stagnating for products like gasoline, diesel, and kerosene, and the country's crude demand expected to peak before next year, making it a tough climate for Venezuela to rebuild its oil industry.
From one angle, the US action to arrest Venezuela’s former President Nicolas Maduro and seize control of the country’s oil industry is an attempt to muscle China’s influence out of the Americas. In a world breaking up into spheres of influence, the Donroe doctrine tells Beijing to keep its meddling hands out of the empire of crude that President Donald Trump is building in the Western Hemisphere.

And yet China will be central to the next act in Venezuela’s drama — because any durable solution to its long-running crisis is likely to involve someone, somewhere, buying more Venezuelan oil.

“In terms of other countries that want oil, we’re in the oil business, we’re gonna sell it to them,” Trump said in a Jan. 3 press conference. “We're not gonna say we're not gonna give it to them. In other words, we'll be selling oil, probably in much larger doses.”

That will be easier said than done. China, the biggest contributor to oil demand growth in recent decades and the key customer for Venezuelan crude, is needing smaller doses as consumption shrinks. Any plans to make money from rebuilding Venezuela’s status as a major oil exporter will have to reckon with the fact that the biggest importer is pulling back from the market.

Running Race

Chinese refiners have far more spare capacity for extra Venezuelan crude

Source: Oilchem/Mysteel, Energy Information Administration, Bloomberg

Note: Shandong data is only independent refiners. The US figures are for Gulf coast refiners across the industry.

Since the first round of sanctions against Venezuela’s oil industry in 2019, its customer base has narrowed to just two countries: The US (where exports are occasionally allowed under a special waiver) and China, the only country with the financial and political muscle to flout Washington’s sanctions regime.

The key players here are the so-called teapot refiners, a collection of privately owned plants which cluster in Shandong province south of Beijing. They have attracted a reputation over the years for surviving by the skin of their teeth while competing with better-connected, better-capitalized state oil companies.

They’ve been the most important consumers of Venezuelan crude for years. Until about 2021, they were eager buyers of the country’s thick, viscous product — unattractive to many refiners, because it’s hard to process — due to its suitability for producing asphalt for road surfaces and roofing. Shandong’s refineries churn out about 40% of the total — a good trade when China’s real estate boom was at its height.

Something From Nothing

China imports far more crude from Malaysia than Malaysia can produce

Source: China Customs General Administration, Bloomberg

When the property bubble burst in 2021, that trade slumped to barely more than half of where it was at its 2020 peak — but the teapot refiners found a new angle. By buying sanctioned oil from Venezuela, Iran and Russia at steep discounts to normal prices, they’ve managed to continue eking out the thinnest of margins.

You can get a picture of the scale of this business by looking at Chinese imports of crude from Malaysia, and to a lesser extent Indonesia. In recent years, they have run far in excess of the volumes those countries can actually produce. That’s a blaring signal that the real source is sanctioned crude getting transferred between ghost-fleet ships in international waters to disguise its origin.

Much now depends on whether China will even be allowed to buy Venezuela’s crude. Trump’s comments suggest he’s in the same mercenary mode that’s allowed US-China ethane trade to continue largely unhindered through a year of tariff chaos. Still, it’s possible that more ideological considerations will lead to Beijing getting blocked. Even without that, a removal of sanctions would certainly raise the price of Venezuelan crude, which might undermine the teapots’ threadbare margins. Meanwhile, the security situation in Caracas appears to be fluid at best. Washington may not have the final say in any outcome.

Tank Top
Gasoline stocks at China's teapot refineries are at multi-decade highs

Source: Bloomberg

Note: Figures are in metric tons.

Either way, it’s not clear that there is need out there for more barrels from South America. With electric vehicles now comprising more than half of China’s auto sales, gasoline inventories at the teapots are at their highest seasonal levels in more than two decades. Unlike the US refineries on the coast of Louisiana and Texas best-suited to processing Venezuelan crude, which have been operating at close to 100% capacity in recent months, the teapots have been running below 50% for most of the past year. India is likely the only other place with the ability and space to process more heavy crude.

From asphalt, to gasoline, diesel and kerosene (which have both seen demand stagnate since Covid), China’s appetite for oil is sated. Only petrochemicals and plastics are growing, and they depend on light, semi-gaseous hydrocarbons where Venezuela is less generously endowed, The biggest state-owned refiner, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, expects the country’s crude demand to peak before next year.

That’s a tough climate in which to rebuild an oil industry decimated by decades of corruption and waste. Venezuela needs long-term buyers for its most important export. With global investment in upstream oil extraction declining, there’s rarely been a worse time to sign up new customers.



To: abuelita who wrote (218924)1/7/2026 3:08:36 PM
From: TobagoJack1 Recommendation

Recommended By
Secret_Agent_Man

  Respond to of 219476
 
re <<How will China react>>
Recommend both blogs, and whatever happening, ought to matter and shall effect Canada, say during 2026 - 2032 Darkest Interregnum window, maybe extending into the 2032 - 2042 Demographic-flip south of you
Trump might have accelerated or forestalled timelines within the Darkest Interregnum window, but the Demographic-flip can only be speeded up for set in mathematics due to internal dynamics in the main even if supplemented by external factors. Doubtful turning Latin America into a collection of failed-states help. Perhaps Team Trump understand the dynamics and shall help to rejuvenate Latin America not out of altruism but for national security
China continues to do what China does, ditto Russia, and let’s watch
Love macro geopolitical stuff
Portfolio recommendation to self: GetMoreGold / StackHigherSilver, but exercise agility, lead by experience, underpinned by whatever smattering of astuteness can be mustered






To: abuelita who wrote (218924)1/10/2026 5:47:09 PM
From: TobagoJack  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 219476
 
Re <<How will China react>>

For one situation-assessment of the Venezuelan oil industry can listen to below VLOG

Start at 1:04:45