While I tend to agree with Tal Cual’s Editor Teodoro Petkoff on many economic issues, I disagree with most of the content of today’s editorial. Basically, Petkoff objects to the sale of the Ruhr refinery in which PDVSA owns 50% with Veba Oil. Petkoff argues that this is simply privatizing PDVSA, something that should not be done, even if the properties are abroad. I think that if PDVSA has something more profitable to invest in, there should be no problem in selling the refinery. What I object to, is that fact that the process being used to sell the refinery lacks transparency. It should be sold to whoever pays the most, not simply to the first group that comes around to offer something for it. Moreover, it does raise some suspicions when the second in command at the company is a former Executive of the company buying the refinery. I think PDVSA should become an international oil company, investing both in Venezuela and abroad, wherever good return on investment may be found. I also think that the Government should privatize 10-20% of it as a way of having the company respond to the shareholders and not the Government’s whims. But I do not believe any part of the company should be managed with nationalistic emotions.
The Devil's Excrement 
Leave a comment