Word: petroleum
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...prices have taken their steepest plunge ever, energy producers from Mexico City to Moscow have felt the pinch. While some are suffering more than others, no major petroleum exporter has entirely escaped the pain. A look at the economic and political woes that cheap oil is causing once mighty producers around the world...
Events are moving swiftly in Venezuela too. No sooner did Caracas refinance nearly two-thirds of its $35 billion foreign debt last February than plummeting oil prices made the agreement obsolete. The free fall is knocking at least $5 billion off the country's petroleum revenues, which account for more than 90% of its foreign exchange, and could force President Jaime Lusinchi to return to bankers to seek better terms. With the country now in the third year of a recession, Lusinchi has little political room to maneuver. He has already promised that a job-creating $5 billion public-works...
Unemployment is rising inexorably throughout the oil patch. Louisiana's 13.2% jobless rate is the highest in the U.S. Last week 600 workers turned up at a Marathon Petroleum plant in Garyville, La., responding to the company's advertisement to fill five jobs. In Texas, where the unemployment rate has reached 8.4%, Paul Rogers six weeks ago lost his job as an oil pipe fitter. Says he: "I'm 21 years old and have 44 years of this left. What will...
Oklahoma has a 7.8% unemployment rate, and last month's annual state fair in the town of Ada attracted a record 9,800 job seekers, more than double last year's turnout. Phillips Petroleum, based in Bartlesville, Okla., last week said that it will soon lay off between 2,000 and 2,500 employees, up to 9.4% of its total work force. Says Kerry Malone, editor of an Oklahoma oil-industry publication: "No one is jumping out of windows yet, but they're looking at the ledges...
...Since lease rates rise and fall with oil prices, the Interior Department sale is expected to offer some tempting bargains. Five years ago, for instance, when oil prices were riding high, the average price paid for tracts in the Santa Maria Basin was $6,387.82 per acre. But if petroleum prices stay at their current depressed levels, the new oil leases could go for much less...