Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has offered China wide access to his country's vast energy resources, including oilfields and the possibility of increased direct crude supplies.
The offers were contained in a bilateral energy accord signed in Beijing late on Thursday following talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao, the presidential press office in Caracas said.
[. . .]
Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil exporter, ships more than half its daily oil output to the US, but since taking office the leftist Chavez has sought to reduce its economic dependence on the nearby US market.
"Venezuela is making a major energy offer to China because China has become the world's second biggest energy importer," the Venezuelan president said in Beijing on Thursday.
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Story.
So, we have the Chinese gaining a bigger foothold in the Western Hemisphere, developing oil resources that could, should, have been ours. While I'm all for conservation, there are some realities here. We do have a great thirst for petroleum, and the Chinese are direct competitors for resources. With demand at an all-time high, and production reaching the same plateau, instead of trying to strike a deal with Chavez, the Bush administration did their best to overthrow him.
Our inept foreign policy has left us on the outside looking in, a continuation of the diplomatic damage caused by the rejection of Kyoto and the folly in Iraq. Opening ANWR up to drilling will certainly not make up the difference. If they were smart, they'd work a deal with the Russians to help them develop the vast perto-resources under Siberia. That's if the Chinese don't make a deal with 'em first, or just decide to take it.
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