El chabon said:
Aha. So now you're saying that CFK's government will attempt to trade futures rather than make a physical delivery of food commodities to Angola?
All of the Angolan state oil company partners are publicly traded companies under constant scrutiny by tens of thousands of very smart analysts, dozens of global regulatory agencies and with millions of shareholders. The Angolan state oil company is a minority shareholder to these global super-major oil companies.
Do you think these partners (or Angola for that matter) are going to accept commodity futures in payment and then try to sell these on the open commodity market, needlessly introducing additional risk in the HOPE of getting their money back? Money that they would have gotten selling the LNG on the open spot market or in contract to higher paying customers without all that risk and bother? Do you think these oil companies are set up to sell soy, wheat and other perishable commodities?
The other part of that is...let's say the Angolans and oil companies do accept futures. The value of those futures would clearly show that Argentina is paying a VERY high price for the LNG (see above re; corruption factor). People will start asking questions and they'll figure it out...there's something called the US anti-curruption act which most nations are signatories. Even though I personally believe there is alot of global corruption, it's usually better hidden whereas this would be right out in the open. This would show clear violation of that act so now you have criminal liability to add.
No...if anything happens here, I wager that Argentina will have to pay for this with an awful lot of Benjamins and if Angola extends credit, the price will reflect the cost of that credit and ALL of the corruption from both side. The populations of both countries will pay the price of the bribes/kickbacks to CFK, her cronies and the Angolan family-in-chief. And Timmerman will still look like a deer in the headlights of the SUV of history about to squash him like the ineffectual moron he is.
But honestly, I don't think she can make it happen if only because of the oil company partners who are probably going to put the kybosh on the whole stupid idiotic thing.
CFK and her government. God! They can't even be corrupt well!!!
