Venezuela claims Maduro wins election: Update
Adds more details on US response.
Venezuela's election authority declared that Nicolas Maduro won a third six-year presidential term starting in 2025 but opposition leadership denounced widespread fraud.
Maduro won with 51.2pc of the vote which was tallied "after resolving an attack against the results transmission system," said Elvis Amoroso, president of Venezuela's administration-aligned national electoral council (CNE). CNE data indicated 44.2pc of the vote for his main rival Edmundo Gonzalez, who ran in the place of main opposition coalition leader Maria Corina Machado after Maduro's government blocked her from running.
The council said 80pc of the votes were counted, indicating an "irreversible" trend that would allow another six years in office for the party that has ruled the country since 1999. The first data shown by CNE on live television late Sunday indicated voting shares that totaled 132pc, with eight opposition candidates other than Gonzalez each getting an identical 4.6pc of the vote.
CNE's final results contrasts with independent opinion polls and data from opposition observers that forecast a victory for Gonzalez. Machado said her team's review of voting data indicated a win for Gonzalez with 70pc of the vote compared with 30pc for Maduro, in line with results from independent opinion polls.
The US, which already has an extensive set of sanctions against oil and mining industries in Venezuela, questioned the election result but indicated that no specific action by Washington was imminent.
The US is asking Caracas to make public the detailed, precinct-level election data to prove the Maduro victory claim, a senior US official said, who added that the US was working with regional allies and the EU to coordinate a response.
"We're going to reserve any judgment until we have a better sense of what happened on the ground," the White House said.
About the only remaining effective lever of US sanctions left to apply would involve taking away authorization to Chevron, granted in 2022, to import into the US oil produced in a joint venture with state-owned PdV.
But another US official said today that option is not under consideration.
Machado's team denounced that it was denied access to the council's center to scrutinise data. Opposition leader Delsa Solorzano also said that witnesses had been kicked out of polling stations and denied required copies of vote tallies. Violence hit polling stations and at least two people were killed overnight after a relatively calm election day.
"All the international community, all, even those who once were [government] allies, they know what happened in Venezuela and how the people voted for a change," Machado said.
Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said his government would not recognise the outcome until the government investigates opposition claims. Leftist Chilean president Gabriel Boric said the CNE's results were "difficult to believe."
In a joint statement, the governments of Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay also called on Venezuela to respect its citizens' decision.
Maduro would continue the legacy of late former president Hugo Chavez, who died in office in 2013 after ushering in massive changes that have contributed to reducing the country's oil output to about 900,000 b/d to more than 3mn b/d at its peak.
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Venezuela claims Maduro wins disputed election
Venezuela claims Maduro wins disputed election
Caracas, 29 July (Argus) — Venezuela's election authority declared that Nicolas Maduro won a third six-year presidential term starting in 2025 but opposition leadership denounced widespread fraud. Maduro won with 51.2pc of the vote which was tallied "after resolving an attack against the results transmission system," said Elvis Amoroso, president of Venezuela's administration-aligned national electoral council (CNE). CNE data indicated 44.2pc of the vote for his main rival Edmundo Gonzalez, who ran in the place of main opposition coalition leader Maria Corina Machado after Maduro's government blocked her from running. The council said 80pc of the votes were counted, indicating an "irreversible" trend that would allow another six years in office for the government party that has ruled the country since 1999. The first data shown by CNE on live television late Sunday indicated voting shares that totaled 132pc, with eight opposition candidates other than Gonzalez each getting an identical 4.6pc of the vote. CNE's final results contrasts with independent opinion polls and data from opposition observers that forecast a victory for Gonzalez. Machado said her team's review of voting data indicated a win for Gonzalez with 70pc of the vote compared with 30pc for Maduro, in line with results from independent opinion polls. The US, which has implemented broad oil and mining sanctions on Venezuela on accusations of unfair elections and other issues, questioned the result. "We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people," US secretary of state Antony Blinken said. "The international community is watching this very closely and will respond accordingly." Machado's team denounced that it was denied access to the council's center to scrutinise data. Opposition leader Delsa Solorzano also said that witnesses had been kicked out of polling stations and denied required copies of vote tallies . Violence hit polling stations and at least two people were killed overnight after a relatively calm election day. "All the international community, all, even those who once were [government] allies, they know what happened in Venezuela and how the people voted for a change," Machado said. Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said his government would not recognise the outcome until the government investigates opposition claims. Leftist Chilean president Gabriel Boric said the CNE's results were "difficult to believe." In a joint statement , the governments of Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay also called on the government to respect its citizens' decision. Maduro would continue the legacy of late former president Hugo Chavez, who died in office in 2013 after ushering in massive changes that have contributed to reducing the country's oil output to about 900,000 b/d to more than 3mn b/d at its peak. By Isabella Reimi and Carlos Camacho Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Mideast contagion risk increases
Mideast contagion risk increases
Dubai, 29 July (Argus) — The risk of Israel's war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza spreading into the wider Middle East region appeared to step up a notch at the weekend with Jerusalem saying it is preparing for fighting on its northern border with Lebanon. The move, announced by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF), came after Israel pinned a 27 July rocket attack that killed 12 people in the Golan Heights on Lebanon-based Hezbollah — like Hamas, an Iran-backed group. The IDF said it is "greatly increasing its readiness for the next stage of fighting in the north." The White House also blamed Hezbollah for the strike, saying its was "their rocket, and launched from an area they control." Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire almost daily since 8 October last year, a day after Hamas first attacked Israel. Those skirmishes had mostly targeted military sites, but the weekend strike was by far the deadliest on civilians inside Israeli territory. The prospect of violence spreading in the Middle East has been a concern, not least in Washington, since the war began between Hamas and Israel. On 13 April, Iran attacked Israel directly for the first time and Israel retaliated five days later. The Yemen-based Houthi militant group launched a campaign of targeting commercial vessels in the Red Sea in what it said was a direct response to Israel's actions in Gaza, and recently directly hit central Tel Aviv with a drone. International crude markets did not react to the weekend's events. Ice Brent front-month crude was mostly unchanged today. Separately, Turkish President Erdogan Recep Tayyip Erdogan on 28 July increased his rhetoric against Israel, hinting at intervention in the Gaza conflict. This may put in doubt Ankara's involvement in any multinational post-war force in Gaza, a "day after" scenario the UAE and the US are attempting to work on. "We must be very strong so that Israel can't do these things to Palestine," Erdogan said in a televised speech in his hometown of Rize, where he enjoys overwhelming support. "Just as we entered Karabakh, just as we entered Libya, we might do the same to them," he said. "There is nothing we cannot do. Only we must be strong." Erdogan has adopted a more aggressive stance towards Israel since his AKP party's poor showing at municipal elections in March, with the Palestinian struggle for statehood being a key cause for his conservative Muslim support base. His comments were non-specific as to the nature of any potential Turkish involvement in Palestinian territories. In Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh, Ankara provided military hardware — especially unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) — and advisors that helped shape outcomes of both conflicts. Israel's foreign minister Israel Katz said Erdogan was following "in the footsteps of Saddam Hussein" with threats to attack Israel. "Just let him remember what happened there and how it ended," he said on X. US secretary of state Anthony Blinken on 28 July reiterated Washington's desire to prevent the conflict from escalating. "We don't want to see it spread," he said in Japan. "The best way to do that in a sustained way is to get the ceasefire in Gaza." By Bachar Halabi Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Tension builds after Venezuela vote
Tension builds after Venezuela vote
Caracas, 29 July (Argus) — Violence after polls closed in Venezuela's election late Sunday evening pointed to more uncertainty as President Nicolas Maduro seeks a third term in a race marred by harassment of the opposition and amid reimposition of US oil sanctions. One man was shot and killed at a voting center and the main coalition of parties running against Maduro denounced severe irregularities during tallies after the vote. The electoral authority (CNE) ordered some polling stations to stop transmitting vote counts to CNE headquarters in Caracas, opposition leader Delsa Solorzano said. Solorzano also said opposition witnesses had been kicked out of polling stations and denied required copies of vote tallies. "The transmission of results, of the tallies, has been paralyzed", Solorzano, the top opposition representative before CNE, said on social media. Maduro has not spoken publicly since midday in Venezuela and he has not claimed victory. Opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, running in the place of blocked candidate Maria Corina Machado, said that he would defend the results. Exit polls indicated that 65.8pc of voters supported Gonzalez, with 13.5pc voting for Maduro, out of 52pc of eligible voters participating, pollster Meganalisis said. "The results are impossible to hide, the country has chosen peaceful change," Gonzalez said. The election began auspiciously, with long lines since Saturday night, uneventful voting and heavy turnouts. But nighttime brought some violence once rumors of Maduro losing the election began circulating. In addition to the one person shot at a voting center, pro-Maduro motorcycle gangs threatened polling stations and opposition members and witnesses, and some ballots have been burned, opposition representatives said. The US administration has said it would be prepared to provide guarantees for Venezuela's government leaders if Maduro loses the election and lets the winner take power. The opposition also said this week that it would move to open the energy sector to outside investment if it takes power, and the sector faces massive repairs after decades of underinvestment in its infrastructure. Maduro in the last days of the campaign touted energy plans such as signing an agreement to explore for and produce natural gas in the offshore Cocuina-Manakin fields that straddles Venezuela's maritime border with Trinidad and Tobago. Gasoline and electricity shortages continued to plague the country with some of the world's largest oil reserves throughout the campaign. By Carlos Camacho Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Eni confident on 2024 output, but Libya project slips
Eni confident on 2024 output, but Libya project slips
London, 26 July (Argus) — Executives at Italy's Eni are confident it will achieve the upper end of its 1.69mn-1.71mn production guidance for this year, but start-up of a key Libyan project is set to slip from 2026 into 2027. In a presentation of second-quarter earnings today, A&E Structure was one of two Libyan projects on a list of Eni's upcoming start-ups through to 2028 that will deliver some 740,000 b/d of oil equivalent (boe/d) of net production to the company. A&E Structure is a 160,000 boe/d gas development that will include some 40,000 b/d of liquids production, mainly condensate. A&E Structure is central to Libya's ability to sustain gas exports to Italy, which have dropped in recent years on a combination of rising domestic consumption and falling production. Supplies through the 775mn ft³/d Greenstream pipeline hit their lowest since the 2011 revolution in 2023, averaging 250mn ft³/d. The slide has continued since, with year-to-date volumes of around 160mn ft³/d on track for a record low. Eni's other upcoming Libyan project — the Bouri Gas Utilisation Project development that aims to capture 85mn ft³/d of gas at the 25,000 b/d offshore Bouri oil field — had already been pushed back from 2025 to 2026. For 2024 Eni expects to be "at the upper boundary of its guidance", according to chief operating officer of Natural Resources Guido Brusco. The company had a strong first half, during which output was 1.73mn boe/d — 5pc up on the year — thanks to good performance at assets in Ivory Coast, Indonesia, Congo (Brazzaville) and Libya. Brusco said Eni is in the process of starting up its 30,000 boe/d Cassiopea gas project in Italy, with first production expected next month, and the 45,000 b/d second phase of the Baleine oil project in Ivory Coast is expected to start by the end of this year. At Baleine, Brusco confirmed the two vessels to be used at phase two "will be in country in September and, building on the experience of phase one, we expect a couple of months of final integrated commissioning" before first oil. Eni also said today it would raise its dividend for 2024 by 6pc over 2023 to €1/share, and confirmed share repurchases this year of €1.6bn. It said there is potential for an additional buyback of up to €500mn, which is being evaluated this quarter. Eni's debt gearing is scheduled to fall below 20pc by the end of the year. Chief financial officer Francesco Gattei said these accelerated share buybacks would be possible if divestment deals are confirmed. By Jon Mainwaring and Aydin Calik Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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