If anyone in the oil and gas industry imagined the administration of US President Barack H. Obama would be soft on Venezuela, they will have to readjust their imaginings.
Obama’s administration is now on watch and has made clear its will stand no nonsense—something that emerged last week when the US issued new restrictions for ships visiting the US after Venezuela.
“The Coast Guard announces that it will impose conditions of entry on vessels arriving from the country of Venezuela,” said a notice by the Department of Homeland Security in the US Official Register published on Jan. 16.
That, of course, was a few days before the Jan. 20 inauguration of the new president. Yet, unlike one or two other directives of the former administration that were rescinded, this one remains on the books.
“The Coast Guard has determined that ports in Venezuela are not maintaining effective antiterrorism measures,” the note added.
Special security
Under the latest restrictions, starting Jan. 23, all ships that have visited Venezuela during their last five ports of call will have to implement a special security plan, known as Security Level 2, while in US ports.
The ships’ access points must also remain guarded while in port, a measure that means “additional crewmembers should be placed on the ship if necessary.”
The USCG can also proceed to examine the ships, the notice says, to make sure that “the number and position of the guards” is acceptable.
It remains unclear how this measure could affect the cost of shipping oil from Venezuela to the US, but it clearly could have considerable effect.
After all, Venezuela, a founding member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, remains one of the top oil suppliers to the US despite all of the anti-American rhetoric coming from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez over the years.
Concerns over FARC
Still, if you are planning on shipments of oil via Venezuela, you might want to reconsider.
The restrictions were justified by long-standing US concerns over terrorism. That’s reasonable enough, given that the Chavez regime has long been accused by the US and others of supporting the terrorist Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC).
In fact, when Colombian forces killed Raul Reyes, FARC’s second most senior rebel commander last year, documents recovered from his captured laptop computer revealed significant support for the rebels from the governments of Venezuela and Ecuador (OGJ, July 14, 2008, p. 48).
So, there is certainly potential for FARC rebels to board oil ships bound from Venezuela for the US, where they could cause untold damage.
Obama is aware of that potential coming out of Venezuela, having recently accused Chavez of blocking progress in Latin America and “exporting terrorist activities.”
As for Chavez, expect no change. “No one here holds any illusions,” he said, referring to the new Obama government. “This is the US Empire we’re talking about.”