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Sunday, January 28, 2018

Venezuela Oil Bribery of Trump, Oklahoma Usual Suspects, Massey

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massey_Energy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massey_Energy

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"Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA said on Sept. 21 it has awarded $3.2 billion in contracts to drill wells in the Orinoco Belt

This time around, Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB), Okla.-based contractor Horizontal Well Drillers and Venezuelan contractor Y&V won contracts to service three joint ventures (JV) between PDVSA and foreign partners, PDVSA said."

https://www.epmag.com/venezuelas-pdvsa-awards-32-billion-oil-service-contracts-1364192

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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-09/no-name-u-s-oil-driller-gets-shot-at-world-s-biggest-reserves


"Not only is Horizontal an unfamiliar player in the industry, few people seem to know much about it in its own hometown of Purcell, Oklahoma, population 6,442.

The head of the local chamber of commerce, who works just down the road, said she’s never heard of the rig contractor.

 A city councilman who owns an exploration and production company said he wasn’t even aware Horizontal’s founder had sold it about four years ago to new owners.

Officials at PDVSA declined to comment for this story. Swanson, 42, who has an MBA from Stanford University, didn’t respond to phone calls.

He has worked previously as an analyst, including for Dan Loeb’s activist hedge fund Third Point LLC.

 He served for about 11 months with Loeb
on the board of Massey Energy Co.
when Third Point was agitating for change at the coal company in 2006 and 2007.

Four years ago Swanson married Maria Taft, the great-great granddaughter of President William Howard Taft.

 Maduro congratulated Swanson for “a win-win association.” He also asked the CEO to share something with President Donald Trump.

“Tell Trump that one day I hope to give him my hand and talk face to face, with respect,” Maduro said. 

“I want good relations with Trump.”

Whether Swanson has any ties to Trump is unclear

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"The timing of the deal is curious considering the country is on the verge of economic collapse.

Numerous corporations have stopped doing business there.

 More than 20 have filed cases against the Venezuelan government at the World Bank after their assets were seized by the socialist government.

And when it comes to oil, Venezuela's most important sector, the country is struggling to pay its bills — issuing promissory notes because it can't come up with the cash.

According to their latest quarterly reports, Halliburton has $429 million in outstanding bills; Schlumberger has about $700 million. Baker Hughes has $100 million in receivables and inventory at risk in Venezuela.

And the red flags don't end there. PDVSA is also at the center of an ongoing bribery investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.


https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/10/an-oklahoma-oil-companys-deal-in-venezuela-raises-questions.html



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Board of directors[edit]
Baxter F. Phillips Jr., president and CEO, Massey Energy
James B. Crawford, former chairman and CEO, James River Coal Company
General Robert H. Foglesong, retired four-star general, U.S. Air Force
Richard M. Gabrys, former vice chairman, Deloitte & Touche LLP
Robert B. Holland, former director, Financial Guaranty Insurance Corporation
Admiral Bobby Inman, former director, National Security Agency
Dan R. Moore, chairman, Moore Group, Inc.
Stanley C. Suboleski, former commissioner, Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission

Linda J. Welty, former president and Chief Operating Officer, H. B. Fuller and Flint Ink

In October 2000, a coal slurry impoundment owned by Martin County Coal Company, a Massey Energy subsidiary in Martin County, Kentucky, suddenly breached and released over 200 million gallons of coal slurry into two mountain streams, Coldwater Creek and Wolf Creek.[29]

 The Martin County coal slurry spill was called the worst ever environmental disaster in the southeastern United States by the EPA. 

The spill smothered all aquatic life in the streams and left residents with contaminated drinking water. Cleanup costs for the spill were approximately $50 million

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massey_Energy

"On April 5, 2010, an explosion at Massey owned Performance Coal Co. mine in Montcoal, West Virginia resulted in the deaths of 29 miners. 

The explosion, which has become known as the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, is the worst mining disaster in 40 years, with a greater loss of life than in any mining accident since the 1970s. 

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) released its final report on December 6, 2011, concluding that flagrant safety violations contributed to a coal dust explosion. 

It issued 369 citations at that time, assessing $10.8 million in penalties. 

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