Tag Archives: Oil

Different Means, Same Ends

By Eliot Brockner | Published: August 5, 2011
Oil production in Colombia is a popular topic these days. Domestic production levels are at an all time high, and Colombian state-owned oil behemoth Ecopetrol is considering selling 10 percent of its stake in the firm to the public. Dow Jones reports the deal will likely go down in 2012. Silla Vacia has an excellent [...]
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Venezuelan Influence in Nicaraguan Media

By Eliot Brockner | Published: January 29, 2010
Another opposition media outlet has fallen. And it’s not in Venezuela. Albanisa, a Venezuelan-owned conglomerate that controls below market-value Venezuelan oil imports in Nicaragua and has business ties to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, recently announced the formal purchase of Canal 8, a leading anti-Ortega media outlet, for US$10 million. The deal, which went through in December [...]
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Brazilian Oil PR Bonanza

By Rachel Glickhouse | Published: September 3, 2009
Though there are a variety big issues in Brazil right now, mostly involving the Sarney corruption scandal and the Senate’s Internet censorship during the upcoming elections, there is another issue, one of President Lula’s pet projects and evidently one of the federal government’s top priorities: oil. Petrobras, the state-run petroleum company, has long been a leader [...]
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China’s Shopping Sprees Head South: Forget “Howdy,” Now It’s Ni Hao

By Manuela Zoninsein | Published: March 9, 2009
This piece first appeared here on ‘China Calling,’ the blog from Newsweek’s Beijing bureau on Wednesday, March 4, 2009. Let’s hope China’s top diplomats have frequent flier accounts. Given the amount of time and money they’re spending on travels, President Hu Jintao and Vice President Xi Jinping’s loose wallets could benefit from some free upgrades. It’s [...]
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The Role of the State and the Black Markets of La Guajira

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: January 14, 2009
Riding in an old Renault at night in La Guajira, Colombia’s northernmost state, our driver, Edison, recognizes an opportunity to fill up his tank not by Chevron, Shell, or Texaco signs over a gas station, but by the sight of a large red plastic container under the only lit lightbulb in sight on the side [...]
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Corporate Irresponsibility or Government Interference? The Chevron-Petroecuador Fiasco

By Eliot Brockner | Published: September 28, 2008
The images are enough to make even a non-environmentalist cringe. Lush rain forest coated in black, dredge-filled lakes, and rivers of oil make up a Rhode-Island size portion of the Ecuadorian rain forest in Sucumbíos state. The controversy of who is to blame has lasted since Chevron’s departure from Ecuador. Chevron (then Texaco) operated in the [...]
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