Each island of pumps at any gas station on any corner is manned by a full-service attendant, who pumps the gas, cleans the windshield and smiles with every tip.
There are no signs advertising the price of fuel. That's because no signs are necessary.
It's all cheap.
But don't let the spic-and-span scene of the happy motorist fool you into thinking there is no grit-and-groan pain behind the scenes with Venezuela's abundance of oil.
"Ten percent of the world's oil market is a major share," points out U.S. Ambassador Patrick Duddy. The United States buys "more than 54 percent of what Venezuela sells abroad; 50 percent of everything Venezuela produces."
Somewhere between 10 to 12 percent of America's oil imports come from Venezuela.
So what's the problem?
Many answer with one name: Hugo Chavez.
The Venezuelan president firmly has inserted himself as a central figure in the world's oil dealership services. His socialist-style brand of government and populist-style brand of politics has turned Venezuela's booming oil industry into a diplomatic wildcard.
Chavez has alienated American oil companies, which have invested billions of dollars here, by nationalizing the oil industry and taking it over as a state-operated and state-owned business. That leaves foreign investments in limbo and dramatically has changed the landscape for energy workers with ties to Venezuela, including many
"The government says this is an inclusion government," said a Venezuelan journalist who likely would be fired and harassed if identified. "Yet, they have fired more than 20,000 oil company employees, from some of the most efficient companies in the world.
"These people can't get a job. They are black-listed," he said. "I know of an engineer who was replaced by a man who took out trash.
"That's exclusion, not inclusion!" he said. "But the government denies all these things."
***
Companies such as those operating atop rich oil and gas fields in the Four Corners region of northwest New Mexico are a good example of how politics in Venezuela can affect business in the United States.
ConocoPhillips, Exxon, Chevron, Texaco, Shell and many others have direct ties to Venezuela, most working with a large workforce present there prior to the government takeover, and all with huge investments that remain, some locked in international courtroom battles.
The ties go back many years.
"We have several American managers who were down there and who relocated to Farmington on our management team," said John Zent, a senior manager with ConocoPhillips in Farmington.
The company also has worked to help relocate oil industry employees who lost their jobs in Venezuela. Zent, however, is prohibited from commentary about the Venezuelan connection because of his company's legal battles with the Chavez administration.
New Mexico's governor and a former presidential candidate, Bill Richardson, also is well aware of the direct ties that bind states like his and the decisions of Chavez. Richardson recently visited Chavez in Caracas, traveling then on the mission to free hostages taken by rebels battling the government in next-door Colombia. He had hoped to persuade Chavez to offer more support for the hostages' freedom, but creating dialogue with Chavez was part of the mission.
"I think Venezuela's changeable atmosphere makes it a very challenging place for energy companies to do business," Richardson said. "That same instability affects the price of oil, which has a big impact on large, car-dependent states like New Mexico.
"My primary reason for going to Venezuela was to secure Chavez's assistance in the release of three American hostages from the FARC in Colombia," Richardson said. "However, I did ask President Chavez to meet with the U.S. ambassador, Patrick Duddy, which he agreed to do. I believe better relations can be the beginning to improved economic relations between our two countries, and in turn more stable gas prices for everyone."
***
All Americans have one direct link to the South American strongman: gas prices.
But will the sharp political differences between Chavez and the Bush administration prompt Venezuela to discontinue its sales to the United States, and thereby overnight send gas prices skyrocketing even further?
"Rest assured, we will continue supplying the United States with oil," Chavez said inside his Presidential Palace.
"We produce 1.5 million barrels of oil a day for the United States," he said. "That's half of our production. And we continue increasing production, to help supply and meet the energy needs. We are far from being a threat. We are friends. But we have been ill treated by this (Bush) government. This has to change."
American officials familiar with the U.S.-Venezuela oil partnership also feel the supply-and-demand links are too profitable to both sides for them to be cut, despite stark differences on the political front and despite the serious blow to American investment here.
"It takes 45 days in a tanker to ship oil to China," a State Department official said. "It takes 4 to 5 days to send it to the U.S."
"The energy partnership makes sense," agreed the ambassador, pointing out that while Venezuela certainly could find other customers, and the U.S. could find other suppliers, the cost of shipping would be a built-in penalty for both nations to face if oil from Venezuela stopped making its way to American consumers.
***
Chavez, however, uses his anti-American, anti-imperialism rhetoric to enhance his populist image among the poor in Venezuela, giving out jobs and unearned paychecks in hope of buying support in Venezuelan elections. Critics here, especially among the business, media and opposition camps, blast Chavez for doing much too little to invest the country's oil wealth in infrastructure and social programs to lift the country out of poverty.
Chavez himself, meanwhile, drums up support for his strong style of direct control by warning that he fears an American invasion, citing the U.S. invasion of Iraq as an example.
"You see what has happened in Iraq and many other countries over these years," Chavez said.
"We are not a power; we do not have atomic bombs; we do not have missiles to destroy people, to attack other people," Chavez said. "So there is no reason whatsoever (for an invasion). There is another element, of course. The bottom line, of course ...
"It is oil.
"I do think that the main reason to invade Iraq was the oil," he said. "And the main cause of the threats against us is again oil."
Chavez, however, holds out hope that he will be able to create a better relationship with the next American president, and that the two nations will continue to do business for a long time.
That might help to stabilize the unsettled gas market for consumers. Still, American economic experts and summertime prices are quick to remind us:
Don't even dream about gas at 10 cents a gallon.
Troy Turner is the editor of The Daily Times in Farmington, N.M. He can be contacted at P.O. Box 450, Farmington, NM 87499; or at tturner@daily-times.com.
Font Resize
