Smells Like Desperation

In a showing of just how much falling oil prices are hurting his political ambitions, hard-line anti-West, anti-capitalist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is now courting western oil companies for investment.

Western companies' -- Chevron, Royal/Dutch among them -- interest in investing in Venezuela, says the NY Times, shows the scarcity of oil projects open to investment elsewhere, principally in the Middle East.

Experts are saying that Venezuela's shrinking production capabilities became obvious even a year ago, when the government first began considering Western investment, where companies tend to have more expertise in shoring up higher production rates.

In 2007 Chavez nationalized oil fields and began kicking out Western companies -- matters that Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips have ongoing legal battles over.

Venezuela remains a risky investment and no one seems sure how the bids, expected to be finalized by June, will turn out. "An agreement on a piece of paper means nothing in Venezuela because of the way Chavez abruptly changes the rules of the game," said one anonymous Venezuelan oilman.