INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - LOOKING GLASS NEWS | |
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias ships 1,000,000 barrels of petroleum to the United States |
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by Roraima Albornoz VHeadline.com Entered into the database on Friday, September 23rd, 2005 @ 11:08:02 MST |
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The Venezuelan Embassy in Washington D.C. issued a press release late
this morning to inform that Venezuela President Hugo Chavez’ pledge to
ship approximately an additional one million barrels of gasoline to the United
States in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation will begin to come
to fruition on September 25 with the arrival at Port Everglades (Florida) of
the bulk tanker 'B/t Energy Pride' with a first shipment of 240,000 barrels.
The gasoline, produced by Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) will be available
immediately to US consumers through PDVSA’s wholly-owned US subsidiary,
CITGO Petroleum Corp's distribution network ... and is supplementary to PDVSA’s
normal shipments. “As a Hemispheric neighbor and business partner, we are pleased that
we are able to provide immediate relief by increasing gasoline supplies available
in the United States in the aftermath of this devastating natural disaster,”
said Venezuela’s Ambassador to the United States, Bernardo Alvarez Herrera.
“We're sending additional barrels of gasoline that otherwise would have
gone elsewhere, and we will continue to do whatever we can to help alleviate
energy shortages and the dislocations faced by the people of the United States
as a result of Hurricane Katrina.” Three other shipments of 240,000 barrel each will arrive at regular intervals
on the heels of this first. It is expected that the entire additional volume
of close to one million barrels will be delivered to the US distribution system
no later than October 31. Venezuela’s geographic proximity to the United States and PDVSA’s
relationship with CITGO permits a much quicker response than could be achieved
by other countries in Europe, the Middle East or Asia. PDVSA is the 5th largest provider of petroleum products in the world and the
3rd largest provider to the United States. Over the last year, Venezuela has
at times been the largest supplier of oil to the United States, surpassing Saudi
Arabia, Canada and Mexico. It exports 95% of its hydrocarbons ... 57% of which
are earmarked for the United States. PDVSA’S oil refining capacity globally
is 3.3 million barrels per day.
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