Venezuela agrees to sell gas to Iran

Venezuela agrees to sell gas to Iran

www.cnn.com

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Venezuela has agreed to sell gasoline to Iran, the South American county's energy minister said in comments published Tuesday, a week after the Islamic country imposed a fuel-rationing program that has sparked violence.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, right, greets Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez in Tehran on Sunday.

"Yes, Iranians have asked to buy gasoline from us, and we have accepted this demand," Rafael Ramirez told the Iranian daily newspaper Shargh.

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I can only wonder what this will lead to and how the media will spin it, especially after all the rumblings of a potential invasion of both Venezuela and Iran.

www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Okay, so Iran wants to start buying gasoline from Venezuela. But why? I thought Iran was a huge supplier of oil themselves.

Why one of the hugest producers needing to buy oil from another? Maybe I missed something, somewhere along the line.

Iran is a big supplier of crude oil, but it doesn't have enough refinery capacity to meet even its own domestic need. So it exports crude oil but imports refined petroleum products.

Thank you djohnsto77 for the clarification. I should really decline comment on things I know nothing about.

Still, not too interesting a story overall, in my opinion.

Anyone who has been to LV-426 and lived to tell the tale knows that Chavez is building trade alliances designed to lessen American influence. The Iranians are acquiring gasoline and other petro-products from other sources because they're geting ready for sanctions from the U.S.

Chavez is a smart guy. He's been several moves ahead of the Bush administration for quite some time. His country is gearing up to kiss off most American trade deals. By the end of this decade...if Chevez gets his way...most South American countries will no longer be dependent upon U.S. trade. I'm not glad to see this. I'm just calling it as I see it.

Does Venezuela have tankers in sufficient numbers to deliver the gas?

Even if tankers are readily available - and I doubt it - it's going to take a couple weeks or so to get the gas there once the tankers are loaded.

Aren't a great number of tankers registered in Liberia and perhaps Nigeria so as to avoid taxes etc.?
Seems like a little backdoor pressure would be applied and tankers may not be as available as the Venezuelan and Iranian leaders think.

Actually, there are whole shipping companies that do nothing but move petro-products for a fee. Short of an embargo, or a blockade, there is nothing the U.S. can do to prevent go-juice from reacing Iran.

The Iranians are playing big-boy chess, and they're planning long term. they are known to be constucting new refineries, but it will take years for them to come on line with proper staffing. they are banking that WE will be busy with Iraq for atleast the next two years. By 2010, they should have enough non-U.S. oil and petro sources to let them ignore us. Not happy to see it, but there it is.

So is this a political ploy to reduce the unrest from the fuel rationing? A little motivation perhaps to get the Iranians back on the side of the government? I would think it's alot easier to start a war when your own people aren't fighting you.

Originally posted by Desert Dawg
Does Venezuela have tankers in sufficient numbers to deliver the gas?

Even if tankers are readily available - and I doubt it - it's going to take a couple weeks or so to get the gas there once the tankers are loaded.

Aren't a great number of tankers registered in Liberia and perhaps Nigeria so as to avoid taxes etc.?
Seems like a little backdoor pressure would be applied and tankers may not be as available as the Venezuelan and Iranian leaders think.

The US isn't the only country with tankers almost any nation beside water has a shipping industry and those company's are always looking for work no matter who it is, a ship with no cargo makes no money and when push comes to shove if Valenzuela wants fuel moved to Iran whoever is nearest will do it.