Bloomberg’s headline inaccurately attributes
claims to BP.
London 14.06.2012, 01:23 GMT | A falsehood travels the globe before the truth has had a chance to catch up. This particular falsehood originated from Bloomberg, which today published an article titled «Venezuela Overtakes Saudis For Largest Oil Reserves, BP says».
After reviewing BP’s pages (press release and corresponding report), I decided to reach out via email to Rupert Rowling and Stephen Voss at Bloomberg this afternoon. Knowing how utterly absurd such a headline is, I needed to verify what BP had actually stated. Here’s what I, along with Bloomberg’s subpar journalists / editors and anyone else interested in this topic, can find on BP’s website regarding the cited figures:
Venezuelan Orinoco Belt reserves are based on information from the OPEC Secretariat and statements from the government.
BP clearly indicates, both in the press release and accompanying reports, that the reserve figures come from the OPEC Secretariat – which collects data from its members, Venezuela being one of them – and from Venezuelan government proclamations. Chavez may be on his deathbed, but he isn’t completely out of it yet. Naturally, he’s going to inflate his own narrative, claiming that Orinoco Belt oil reserves are the largest globally. But, has any independent organization, from anywhere, verified Chavez’s assertion?
Not long ago, his government claimed that Venezuela had eradicated illiteracy. They even dragged UNESCO into it, much like Bloomberg did with BP. However, all it takes to debunk that claim is a trip to any Caracas barrio, yet mainstream media had a field day promoting the nonsense about Venezuela being an «illiteracy-free» nation. All it needed for me to debunk Bloomberg’s outlandish claim was a quick Google search, but by then the falsehood was already far and wide.
Of course, Bloomberg ignored my email and did not respond. However, it did alter its misleading headline – without issuing any noted clarification – removing the «BP says» segment.
I’m not a journalist, nor do I aspire to be one. But I do wonder about why major outlets like Bloomberg resort to such blatant fabrications. If the original headline is taken literally, my question to Bloomberg is: since when has BP become a credible source for determining whether the oil reserves of one OPEC country exceed those of another?
And if Bloomberg recognized its initial headline’s absurdity and deleted the BP reference, then who is asserting that Venezuelan reserves have surpassed those of Saudi Arabia? I’ll tell you who: Hugo Chavez and his regime officials.
In other news, Raul Castro stated that Cuba is fully compliant with international human rights treaties…
Update: This morning, Bloomberg’s Rupert Rowling did respond to my email (08:15:05 GMT). Here’s our exchange as of the time of this posting:
Subject: Re Venezuela Overtakes Saudis For Largest Oil Reserves, BP Says
From: [email protected]
To: RUPERT ROWLING (BLOOMBERG/ NEWSROOM:)
Cc: STEVE VOSS (BLOOMBERG/ NEWSROOM:)
At: 6/13 18:39:29
Dear Sirs,
In response to your misleading title, please refer to http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle800.do?categoryId=9037157&contentId=7068604
Sources
The estimates were compiled using a mix of primary official sources, third-party data from the OPEC Secretariat, World Oil, Oil & Gas Journal, and independent estimates of Russian and Chinese reserves based on publicly available information. Canadian oil sands ‘under active development’ are an official estimate. Venezuelan Orinoco Belt reserves are based on the OPEC Secretariat and government announcements.
Therefore, it’s not BP that says Venezuela overtakes Saudis, but the OPEC Secretariat (figures from Venezuelan government) and Venezuelan government statements. Have you even considered whether those figures have been independently validated?
Sincerely,
A Boyd
On 14 Jun 2012, at 08:15, RUPERT ROWLING (BLOOMBERG/ NEWSROOM:) wrote:
Dear Mr. Boyd,
Thank you for your email. At the end of the article, you might have noticed the following paragraph.
BP indicated that the estimates in yesterday’s report are a combination of official sources, OPEC data, and other third-party estimations. Deposits include gas condensates and natural-gas liquids, along with crude.
We understand that the data comes from multiple sources, but as it was published recently in BP’s Statistical Review, that’s why it appeared with the headline «… BP Says».
Kind regards,
Rupert
From: Alek Boyd <[email protected]>
Date: 14 June 2012 10:37:13 GMT+01:00
To: «RUPERT ROWLING (BLOOMBERG/ NEWSROOM:)» <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re Venezuela Overtakes Saudis For Largest Oil Reserves,
Dear Rupert,
Thank you for your response.
I did notice the paragraph you mentioned, but I still believe that your choice of headline is quite misleading.
A more suitable one, reflecting the content of BP’s press release and report, would have been «… OPEC says», which references figures from Venezuela, or «… BP says citing OPEC / Venezuela sources», or even «… Venezuela / Chavez says».
All of those alternatives would have highlighted the questionable nature of your original claim, as none support it. Hence my email.
I assume you have been covering oil markets for some time, so it shouldn’t be a stretch for me to suppose that you know, just like any seasoned oil reporter / analyst, that Venezuela / Chavez’s assertions about oil are not trustworthy. They hold no merit, absolutely none. Complete myths with no reliable data backing them.
Why would Bloomberg echo Chavez’s claims? Claims that -let’s be clear- no independent party has verified?
Best wishes,
Alek Boyd