Hot Air » Blog Archive » Good news: Obama backs off-shore drilling! Update: A Soros connection?.
The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil’s Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro. Brazil’s planning minister confirmed that White House National Security Adviser James Jones met this month with Brazilian officials to talk about the loan.
The U.S. Export-Import Bank tells us it has issued a “preliminary commitment” letter to Petrobras in the amount of $2 billion and has discussed with Brazil the possibility of increasing that amount. Ex-Im Bank says it has not decided whether the money will come in the form of a direct loan or loan guarantees. Either way, this corporate foreign aid may strike some readers as odd, given that the U.S. Treasury seems desperate for cash and Petrobras is one of the largest corporations in the Americas. …
But it still doesn’t allow the U.S. to explore in Alaska or along the East and West Coasts, which could be our equivalent of the Tupi oil fields, which are set to make Brazil a leading oil exporter. Americans are right to wonder why Mr. Obama is underwriting in Brazil what he won’t allow at home.
Ed:
This seems odd in several ways. For this particular administration to offer billions in loans to a foreign oil company makes a mockery of a number of Obama talking points. First, why does Petrobas need loan guarantees to pursue its exploration? As the WSJ notes, it is a very large corporation, which should have the resources to get to the oil on its own. Obama, who has ripped American corporations for their supposed subsidies in American tax policy, now wants to use an empty Treasury to give cash to a Brazilian oil company.
Next, Obama keeps insisting that we cut back on our use of fossil fuels. He and his allies in Congress have blocked exploration of American oil fields off both shores for decades, and Obama insists that we would only keep enabling our oil addiction if we started drilling off of our own coasts. Yet he has no trouble committing $2,000,000,000 of our money for Brazil to drill off its own coast.
Here’s a proposal: Let American companies do what Obama is paying Brazilian companies to do — drill offshore. We won’t have to pay them money or float them any loans to do it, either. In fact, we will make money off of the leases, while the effort creates hundreds of thousands of high-paying jobs in the US, creating more tax revenue rather than emptying out the Treasury.
Update: Who else besides Obama has taken an interest in Petrobras? Hmmmmmm:
His New York-based hedge-fund firm, Soros Fund Management LLC, sold 22 million U.S.-listed common shares of Petrobras, as the Brazilian oil company is known, according to a filing today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Soros bought 5.8 million of the company’s U.S.-traded preferred shares.
Soros is taking advantage of the spread between the two types of U.S.-listed Petrobras shares, said Luis Maizel, president of LM Capital Group LLC, which manages about $4 billion. The common shares were 21 percent more expensive than preferred today, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. …
Petrobras preferred shares have also a 10 percent additional dividend, said William Landers, a senior portfolio manager for Latin America at Blackrock Inc.
“Given that there will most likely never be a change in control in the company, I see no reason to pay a higher price for the common shares.” Brazil’s government controls Petrobras and has a majority stake of voting shares.
This story is from last Friday. Is it a coincidence that Obama backer George Soros repositioned himself in Petrobras to get dividends just a few days before Obama committed $2 billion in loans and guarantees for Petrobras’ offshore operations? Hmmmmmmmmmm.
“Money and more money for big oil” , on your back’s, in fact in 2 weeks from now some obama bitch in some oil company will tell you we are running out of oil and gas will jump to 5 dollars a gal.
we are being setup for the down fall.
Hey idiots…..the Import Export Bank’s reason to be is to make loans to foreign corporations. It is a WIN for the American taxpayer to lend money to well run companies who pay us back on time WITH INTEREST! You wingnuts wouldn’t say BOO if it was done while President McCain was busy trying to find his ass with both hands tied behind him, would you?
Hey moron Don,
How much interest are we paying to loan that money out? Our tax revenue is down 30% from last year..our government depends on tax revenue in order to pay the bills…Our unemployment is the highest in 30 years and we are paying out millions every week in unemployment insurance..Why not drill our own, employ our unemployed and collect the tax revenue from the oil companies? That is a win win
We can help and finance Brazil to exploit their resources…but we can’t develop and utilize America’s resources.
Perhaps this is a way to prop up foreigners, plus make some big $$$ for Democrite/Obama supporters and cronies, all while continuing to undermine America!
Hey Pam and Robert……well do YOU know the interest rate that we pay on Export Import Bank money loaned out? Let me clue you in…it’s the Fed Fund rate which is now at .25% (that is one quarter of one percent!) And the Import Export Bank loan rate is………..5.9% Gee, we earn a minimum of 5.65% on ExIm loans!! Robert, the ExIm Bank is specifically set up to loan money to foreign corporations and does not raise money for Democrats and Obama supporters.
Here is information taken directly from their website…look it up yourselves as its easy enough…
The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) is the official export credit agency of the United States. Ex-Im Bank’s mission is to assist in financing the export of U.S. goods and services to international markets.
Ex-Im Bank enables U.S. companies — large and small — to turn export opportunities into real sales that help to maintain and create U.S. jobs and contribute to a stronger national economy.
Ex-Im Bank does not compete with private sector lenders but provides export financing products that fill gaps in trade financing. We assume credit and country risks that the private sector is unable or unwilling to accept. We also help to level the playing field for U.S. exporters by matching the financing that other governments provide to their exporters.
Ex-Im Bank provides working capital guarantees (pre-export financing); export credit insurance; and loan guarantees and direct loans (buyer financing). No transaction is too large or too small. On average, 85% of our transactions directly benefit U.S. small businesses.
With more than 70 years of experience, Ex-Im Bank has supported more than $400 billion of U.S. exports, primarily to developing markets worldwide.
I’ try to explain it you step by step.
1. US government lends money to Petrobras, Good.
2. Petrobras invest in offshore drilling in Brazil, creating jobs and paying taxes there, then exports Petroleum to the US and millions of dollars go south, Brasilia and Soros pay back and win a lot of money.
If you let US companies to drill in the American coasts, they will put the money, win money, pay taxes to Washington and create jobs in the coastal states. It’s a far better deal to me.
Don: No I don’t, but I don’t claim to (and never did).
Offshore: Right on, that’s it in a nutshell. Probably why we are not developing U.S. oil is a combination of enviro-whackism coupled with more cronies and interests on the Democrite side that will benefit (like Soros).
its not for exploration in brazil its for petrobras new african offshore drilling sites that have been discovered to have tons of oil that only certain people know about and that the US doesnt own but want a piece of the profit i think its a good idea
Did any of you fool even look at that agreement?
That loan pays for US exports to Brazil, namely equipment and services in oil exploration. This is NOTHING MORE THAN CORPORATE WELFARE. The export bank loans money to foreign countries so that foreign countries buy US goods and THEN have to pay back the export bank with interest. So not only are we increasing exports, but we get that money back with interest.
the us loans a foreign owned oil exploration company money for the offshore drilling of oil in south america. Any oil produced is going to be exported exclusively to China. Soros, who was the largest supporter of the clintons and obamas, is the largest shareholder in the foreign owned oil exploration entity and stands to make the most profit of any citizen involved in the deal. He radically increased his stake in the foreign owned company literally days before the obama administration announced the loan to the company. This stinks and is nothing more than pay back to soros and his cronies. If “think harder” sees any positives in this insider trading political scam he is so far down the river of denial without a paddle that he has taken up a permanent residence on the shit river.