Hugo Chavez nationalized the 76 private oil service companies that for decades had kept the Venezuelan oil industry going.

Now none of them are functioning, and as a result Venezuelan oil production is dropping

socialismo in Venezuela hurting oil production

Workers seeking promised jobs from new socialized oil service companies recently SEWED THEIR LIPS TOGETHER to symbolize the shameful way their socialist government was treating them.

The other side of the picture:

http://colombiajournal.org/colombia239.htm

Is it hurting production or is it conserving reserves for future generations? Every country should emulate the UK's North Sea production curves right. Produce every barrel of oil as fast a possible selling the oil when it was cheap and only when the fields deplete switch to importing expensive oil from the Middle East. Obviously the Western model of voraciously depleting fields is pure genius. How dare Venezuela conserve their oil!!

yeah. The British idiots and their American colonies are of the same cloth. Greedy stupid shortsited morons who believe that conservation is for liberals.

Political conservatives (starting with Raygun, Bush, BushII, and finally all the other loosers) are dumb dumb dumb.

But the bastards have the money and guns. Because they stole it from the people.

Burn baby, burn!!

So you think the loss of jobs and the decline in Venezuelan oil production caused by the incompetence of the government after it took over the oil and oil service companies is actually part of a clever plan to conserve the oil?

Did you not read my socialist response to your conservative propaganda?

Conserve it for future generations, fine but they will still have to bring in private service companies to get at it.
They will be so far behind in technology then, they will have no other choice.
Remember, most oil companies have little "in house" technology.
Most of the work is done by service companies.

And the service companies need the business so they will have to split the profits fairly. Win win unlike previous years when puppets were installed and the profits ended up in America feeding the excessively over-fed.

I think we have a fundimental misunderstanding as to what a service company is and what it does.

A service company does a particular job on a well, from welding, logging, well fliuds, fracturing the formation, etc.

Weither they do the job as a public employee or a private contractor is simply a matter of choise.

Personally, myself I would rather be a "silly servant".

I'm not sure if you're talking to me or not but it goes much further than that, particularly when you're offshore.
The "service co." is also the drilling contractor (Transocean, Noble etc.), subea well design company (Hydril, Cameron, Drilquip etc) and ROV diving systems (Oceaneering) and these companies have technology that no public employee manned company could ever hope to replicate.
You would have to include Halliburton, Baker Hughes etc. in this equation as to companies that also have technology with regards to cementing, fraccing etc that no Venezuelan state owned startup could replicate without years of investment and R&D and maybe not even then.

As americandream said though if they came up with a good deal all sides would be happy but the Vens don't have a great track record, what with their nationalising companies, not paying bills and stealing equipment. Last I heard they still have 2 H&P land rigs they have seized after not paying H&P for over 6 mos.

Foreign companies can be pretty slippery. I'm a tax adviser and I know. These guys will look for any excuse to keep the profits in their pockets. I'ld take any of this anti-Chavez stuff with a big pinch of salt. Not to say that he's a saint but corporate entities have had decades to prove their worth and look at us today. Bailing out these buggers to the tune of trillions. They need to tow the line or go elsewhere for their business.

Name one oil or service co. that was ever bailed out.
It's well known in the bidness that Chavez is a thief and cannot be trusted.

You call him a thief only because he isn't a death squad junta stooge like all the US sponsored butchers in the past. All the yapping about Venezuela is solidly contradicted by the example of Norway. Better start bleating about that country too if you care to appear consistent.

You don't believe that it's only banks being bailed, do ya?

When you bail a bank to free up credit, you bail all the feeders downwind, feeders who incidentally tap into the banking network and breath life into it. It's well known in business circles that members of boards, management and other floaters are sucking a nations revenue dry either by way of tax dodges and scams. government handouts and grants and other general subsidies from the working community. The only reason they dispise Chavez is because he has their number and is setting a bad example.