Soros and Petrobras

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2010/06/soros-and-petrobras

The meme that the Obama administration's post-BP-spill offshore drilling ban is a big help to Brazil's partially state-owned petroleum company, Petrobras, and that that is a big help to billionaire American George Soros, who makes a lot of leftish political contributions and had a big Petrobras stake reported at one point, is getting some traction. Investor's Business Daily has an editorial reporting:

Last August, the U.S. Export-Import Bank issued a "preliminary commitment" letter to Brazil's state-run Petrobras in the amount of $2 billion, with the promise of more to follow. Why are we lending billions to a foreign oil company that made $15 billion last year?

These taxpayer dollars finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil's Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro. Apparently there are no pristine beaches full of tourists there. Someday we may be importing that oil we're helping Brazil get at.

Has that letter been rescinded as part of the moratorium? Why are Brazil's offshore fields safe but ours aren't?

The truly inimitable DrinkingWithBob ("WHAT'S NEXT? WHAT'S NEXT? WHAT'S NEXT?") also got into the Petrobras-Soros issue recently. As has Frontpagemag.com, in an article headlined "Soros's Oil Spill Payoff."

Will Jamie Dimon and Hillary Clinton suddenly become less effusive in their praise of Brazil now that the country is following a "Drill, Baby, Drill" approach rather than an Obama-style "Moratorium, Baby, Moratorium"?

Thanks to reader-participant-content co-creator-watchdog R. for sending the IBD and Frontpagemag articles, and to reader-participant-content co-creator-watchdog E. for introducing us to DrinkingWithBob, who probably deserves a full profile here at some point in the future.

by Ira Stoll  |  Jun 23, 2010 at 9:43 pm Related Topics:  Banking, Energy, Politics, President Obama, Press receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list