Looks like Chavez is worried enough by dropping oil prices that he is coming in from the cold, and courting Western oil companies again.  Just days after the National Assembly approved his constitutional reform which would allow him to run for reelection an unlimited number of times (which still needs to be ratified by referendum), he has been whispering sweet nothings into the ears of Chevron, Total France and Royal/Dutch Shell.

Whether the oil companies will bite is another question.  That Chavez is coming in during a historic drop in prices suggests that, should things improve, he might just screw them over once again.  But then again, maybe not.  Chavez seems more interested in staying in power, and he would hardly be the first leader to sacrafice principles on the altar of political expediency now, would he?