Here's a real bombshell that's been ignored by the mainstream media: Quick, name the last time you saw 'Venezuela' mentioned in a financial news story about rising oil prices at the pump?

World oil prices have been above $50 a barrel for more than a month now, and all you ever read as reasons are 'speculative trading,' 'hedge funds,' 'uncertainty in Iraq,' and 'demand from China.' Google 'oil prices' and 'Venezuela,' and, other than the occasional vague reference to Venezuelan 'uncertainty,' you don't see a thing. That's a real omission by the mainstream media.

It's probably ignorance—based rather than ideologically based, (Venezuela's state oil company doesn't return phone calls as it used to) but regardless of reason, it keeps U.S. consumers completely in the dark about the real reason why oil prices are hitting the stratosphere.

Bloombergаhas been as bad as the rest of them but to their credit, they have finally caught on. Today they report that Venezuela's oil industry is completely falling apart.

Venezuela used to produce 3.1 million barrels of oil a day. Today, it's producing about 2.1 million barrels a day, according to a union leader. More appalling still, half of what is produced is done by companies like Chevron and their joint ventures.

That could mean Venezuela's inefficient state oil company producing as little as 600,000 barrels a day. If that is the case, the damage done by Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez to his country's oil industry — the very industry he counts on to fund his soup—kitchen programs as his insulting substitute for economic opportunity — must be greater than anyone thought. It explains why he's been shaking downаforeign oil companies for greater shares of their profits. It also suggests he may not be long for remaining in power, given that his governing power and 'legitimacy' rest solely on the strength of his oil profits to dole out political favors. He's losing that capacity fast.

One writer who's kept us carefully apprised of Venezuela's oil industry destruction is Gustavo Coronel, who spent many years working for Venezuela's state oil company and knows the industry inside and out. Carefully, and thoroughly, he has documented the extent of the destruction. He has a new item out that's a powerful dose of reality for all those slovenly, ignorant mainstream media hacks who are still parroting the tired talk about 'speculators' and 'China demand.'

This is what is really going on with oil prices. Read it here.

A.M. Mora y Leon 05 16 05