Message to INFODIO readers: investigative journalism, which is what this site does, takes lots of time. Visiting media looking for a quick run down on Venezuela's gargantuan corruption, have the decency to at least cite the source when plagiarising this site's content without attribution (exhibit Reuters here and here, exhibit Bloomberg here, exhibit OCCRP here). To all readers, do the right thing, the honest thing: support independent investigative journalism, help us expose rampant corruption. Note added 28/06/2021: impostors are using INFODIO's former editor's full name, and a fake email address (alek.boyd.arregui at gmail.com) to send copyright infringement claims / take down requests to web hosting companies (exhibit Hostgator). The attempt is yet another effort paid by corrupt thugs to erase information about their criminal activities. Infodio.com has no issues with other websites / journalists using / posting information published here, so long as the source is properly cited.
Check this out: after picking Juan Guaido, the Trump administration placed a bunch of sanctions on Venezuela / PDVSA. Said sanctions regime put the fear of god on a number of international energy players that ended up leaving the scene. The objective was to remove Nicolas Maduro, but the riskier it got for established companies to engage in business with Venezuela / PDVSA, the faster the void was filled by nimble shells run by thugs eager to cash in.
This site first became aware of David Rivera around the time David Osío was crowing about some gong the U.S. Congress was allegedly going to bestow on him, for "distinguished contributions". Rivera organised the charade.
UPDATED 15/05/2020 - The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) removed Nynas from its list of sanctioned entities yesterday. Nynas published a release, in which it claimed that PDVSA (Nynas' majority shareholder) had "...reduced the percentage of Nynas shares it owns to 15 percent of all shares currently issued.
The recent record of U.S. government intervention in Venezuela sucks. Is out with Operation Condor and Washington Consensus, in with putsch by tweet. Regime change nowadays is by betting on the wrong horse, siding with cabals of entirely useless allies, while continously overestimating charlatans and underestimating chavismo, which is the most formidable foe to have ever come out of Latin America. What the world needs, what the region and Venezuela, in particular, need is more Charlie Wilson and less John Bolton.
UPDATE 08/05/2020 - 09:55 GMT | Alex Saab adventures into oil aren't new. There was a time when he had to make use of "decent" intermediaries, like Jean Paul Rivas, in energy trading attempts. No more. U.S. Treasury sanctions have pushed PDVSA into Saab's arms. He is no longer toxic. His characteristic stench goes undetected in the company of Nicolas Maduro, Cilia, and Tareck el Aisami: Venezuela's new oil minister.
A restructuring proposal to take PDVSA back to its core business was making the rounds recently. Out with importing food, feeding chicken and building cardboard housing, in with amending laws to attract foreign investment and to allow PDVSA to become minority partner, recovering refineries, increase output and decrease taxes and royalties. U.S. sanctions, globe's oil glut, and the Chinavirus must have precipitated the move, which, has to be said, is and has been the only solution.
A question we get often, from analysts trying to make sense of what's happening with PDVSA's trading, finances, assets, etc., is: what's going on with crude deliveries? Maritime tracking apps / software are, in Venezuela's particular case, not fit for purpose, for these rely on vessels' AIS transponders to broadcast geolocations which are picked by terrestrial or satellite receivers. This information can then be seen on maps easily. But what happens when ships switch transponders off, which has become the new norm in most of the tankers involved with PDVSA?
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