money.cnn.com Shipments of 688,000 barrels per day leaves country at 25% of capacity as strike carries on. January 24, 2003: 10:54 AM EST

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan oil exports jumped 62 percent in the week ending Friday to 688,000 barrels per day (bpd), or 25 percent of capacity, as the government struggled to break a strike in the world's fifth-largest exporter, shipping data showed Friday.

Oil exports in the seven days to Friday stood at 688,000 bpd, up from 424,000 bpd in the previous week, according to information from ship agents and port authorities.

Venezuela exported 2.7 million bpd before the strike, which is intended to force President Hugo Chavez from office, and exports have averaged 519,000 bpd during the past four weeks.

"Exports are rising a bit, but they still face big problems getting foreign shippers to come back," said a Venezuelan ship agent.

Chavez is trying to break the seven-week-old strike by using troops and replacement crews at the terminals, but many lack certification to handle oil, safety standards are poor and missing documentation make insurance risks high.

Most Venezuelan refineries are shut or severely crippled, and Caracas has resorted to importing big volumes of gasoline from international markets to ease severe fuel shortages.

Three companies are regularly importing Venezuelan oil from mainland ports: U.S. refiner and marketer Citgo, fully owned by Venezuelan state company Petroleos de Venezuela; Lyondell Citgo, an affiliate; and Cuban state oil company Cupet.  

By Myra P. Saefong, CBS.MarketWatch.com cbs.marketwatch.com Last Update: 11:42 AM ET Jan. 24, 2003

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Crude futures inched higher Friday, but will likely post their second down week this month.

Data on U.S. oil supplies failed to reflect an eight-week-old strike in Venezuela, and oil production from the South American country is headed higher.

Crude for March delivery traded at $32.33 a barrel, up 8 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It closed out last week at $32.95.

The week of Jan. 6 was also a down week for crude, but in five out of the last six weeks, the trading range Friday has been positive, said Patrick Patten, an analyst at technical advisory service United Energy.

"Friday seems to be the day where everyone thinks about the war and doesn't want to be short over the weekend," Patten said.

Also on Nymex, gold futures were poised to end the week up about 3 percent. Investors kept the U.S. dollar and stock market in focus and looked toward a briefing next week by U.N. weapons inspectors on Iraq for clues about whether to buy or sell the precious metal. See Metals Stocks.

"Venezuela is supposedly in the process of getting the oil industry back to work, but it is not clear how cooperative the workers are or how long it will take to resume production," said Todd Hultman, president of DailyFutures.com.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government now claims that daily oil output has surpassed 1 million barrels, while the opposition, which began its labor strike on Dec. 2, says it's running at around 812,000 barrels per day. Venezuela produced around 3 million barrels per day before the strike began.

Either way, traders realize Chavez is beginning to get some production back on line, said Grady Garrett, chief trading strategist at EnergyTrendAlert.com.

News this week indicates some progress on a resolution to the strike. Some of Venezuela's striking oil tanker pilots reportedly returned to work this week following a government deal to receive back wages.

Iraqi focus

Going into the weekend, Hultman said the biggest news for crude continues to be that "the U.S. and U.K. are headed to war with Iraq, and there is probably nothing that can stop it."

President George Bush will likely make his case to the world in his State of the Union address Tuesday, Hultman said, "showing numerous instances where Iraq is in flagrant violation of U.N. agreements, refusing to cooperate in the disarmament process."

Hultman expects the U.S. and its allies to attack Iraq within a month with the cooperation of Iraq's neighbors.

If that happens, crude prices will likely spike up on the initial news, but the White House will likely announce the release of crude inventories from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve "to soothe the market," he said.

Oil supplies rise

Even though Venezuela's strike is about to enter its ninth week, U.S. crude supplies haven't reflected much of any impact from the loss of oil production in the South American country.

Early Thursday, the American Petroleum Institute reported that crude stocks rose by 181,000 barrels to total 272.4 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 17, up from 272.2 million a week earlier.

The Energy Department said inventories of crude climbed 1.5 million barrels to 273.8 million barrels, up from 272.3 million a week earlier.

Most analysts were expecting a decline because of Venezuela's strike. See full story.

In recent action, petroleum-product prices were mixed. February unleaded gasoline rose by 0.19 cent to 90 cents a gallon. February heating oil traded at 91.05 cents a gallon, down 0.48 cent.

Natural gas inches up

Among other energy futures, natural gas futures rose on expectations for a large decline in next week's U.S. supplies. February natural gas rose 4.2 cents to $5.50 per million British thermal units.

Next week, the Energy Department should report another big decline in U.S. natural-gas supplies, analysts at Fimat said in a report, though starting next week, temperatures will be a lot milder.

The National Weather Service is forecasting normal temperatures for the northern two-thirds of the nation from Jan. 28 through Feb. 1, Fimat said.

On Thursday, the Energy Department reported that natural-gas supplies fell by 210 billion cubic feet during the week ended Jan. 17. Total inventories of 1.985 trillion cubic feet are now 537 billion cubic feet below year-ago levels, and 76 billion cubic feet below the five-year average, the government report said. The data surpassed the year-ago decline of 126 billion cubic feet and was on the high-end of most analyst estimates, Fimat said.

Over in the equities arena Friday, the Oil Service Index ($OSX: news, chart, profile) traded down 1.9 percent after gains of the past two sessions.

The Reuters/CRB Index, a broad-based measure of the commodity futures market, traded at 244.1, up 0.3 percent amid gold's rally. Myra P. Saefong is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com in San Francisco.

By Myra P. Saefong, CBS.MarketWatch.com cbs.marketwatch.com Last Update: 11:42 AM ET Jan. 24, 2003

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Crude futures inched higher Friday, but will likely post their second down week this month.

Data on U.S. oil supplies failed to reflect an eight-week-old strike in Venezuela, and oil production from the South American country is headed higher.

Crude for March delivery traded at $32.33 a barrel, up 8 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It closed out last week at $32.95.

The week of Jan. 6 was also a down week for crude, but in five out of the last six weeks, the trading range Friday has been positive, said Patrick Patten, an analyst at technical advisory service United Energy.

"Friday seems to be the day where everyone thinks about the war and doesn't want to be short over the weekend," Patten said.

Also on Nymex, gold futures were poised to end the week up about 3 percent. Investors kept the U.S. dollar and stock market in focus and looked toward a briefing next week by U.N. weapons inspectors on Iraq for clues about whether to buy or sell the precious metal. See Metals Stocks.

"Venezuela is supposedly in the process of getting the oil industry back to work, but it is not clear how cooperative the workers are or how long it will take to resume production," said Todd Hultman, president of DailyFutures.com.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government now claims that daily oil output has surpassed 1 million barrels, while the opposition, which began its labor strike on Dec. 2, says it's running at around 812,000 barrels per day. Venezuela produced around 3 million barrels per day before the strike began.

Either way, traders realize Chavez is beginning to get some production back on line, said Grady Garrett, chief trading strategist at EnergyTrendAlert.com.

News this week indicates some progress on a resolution to the strike. Some of Venezuela's striking oil tanker pilots reportedly returned to work this week following a government deal to receive back wages.

Iraqi focus

Going into the weekend, Hultman said the biggest news for crude continues to be that "the U.S. and U.K. are headed to war with Iraq, and there is probably nothing that can stop it."

President George Bush will likely make his case to the world in his State of the Union address Tuesday, Hultman said, "showing numerous instances where Iraq is in flagrant violation of U.N. agreements, refusing to cooperate in the disarmament process."

Hultman expects the U.S. and its allies to attack Iraq within a month with the cooperation of Iraq's neighbors.

If that happens, crude prices will likely spike up on the initial news, but the White House will likely announce the release of crude inventories from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve "to soothe the market," he said.

Oil supplies rise

Even though Venezuela's strike is about to enter its ninth week, U.S. crude supplies haven't reflected much of any impact from the loss of oil production in the South American country.

Early Thursday, the American Petroleum Institute reported that crude stocks rose by 181,000 barrels to total 272.4 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 17, up from 272.2 million a week earlier.

The Energy Department said inventories of crude climbed 1.5 million barrels to 273.8 million barrels, up from 272.3 million a week earlier.

Most analysts were expecting a decline because of Venezuela's strike. See full story.

In recent action, petroleum-product prices were mixed. February unleaded gasoline rose by 0.19 cent to 90 cents a gallon. February heating oil traded at 91.05 cents a gallon, down 0.48 cent.

Natural gas inches up

Among other energy futures, natural gas futures rose on expectations for a large decline in next week's U.S. supplies. February natural gas rose 4.2 cents to $5.50 per million British thermal units.

Next week, the Energy Department should report another big decline in U.S. natural-gas supplies, analysts at Fimat said in a report, though starting next week, temperatures will be a lot milder.

The National Weather Service is forecasting normal temperatures for the northern two-thirds of the nation from Jan. 28 through Feb. 1, Fimat said.

On Thursday, the Energy Department reported that natural-gas supplies fell by 210 billion cubic feet during the week ended Jan. 17. Total inventories of 1.985 trillion cubic feet are now 537 billion cubic feet below year-ago levels, and 76 billion cubic feet below the five-year average, the government report said. The data surpassed the year-ago decline of 126 billion cubic feet and was on the high-end of most analyst estimates, Fimat said.

Over in the equities arena Friday, the Oil Service Index ($OSX: news, chart, profile) traded down 1.9 percent after gains of the past two sessions.

The Reuters/CRB Index, a broad-based measure of the commodity futures market, traded at 244.1, up 0.3 percent amid gold's rally. Myra P. Saefong is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com in San Francisco.

foxnews.com Friday, January 24, 2003

LONDON — Oil prices held steady on Friday after two days of sharp declines, following evidence that strike-bound Venezuelan production is beginning to recover.

U.S. light crude added seven cents to $32.32 a barrel and London Brent gained three cents to $29.75. U.S. crude hit a two-year high of $35.20 earlier this week.

President Hugo Chavez raised the stakes in Venezuela's bitter oil industry conflict on Thursday by announcing 3,000 oil company executives were sacked and saying oil output was rising faster than expected.

Chavez is using troops and replacement crews to break a seven-week-old strike aimed at driving him from office. He still faces huge problems restarting refineries and persuading foreign shippers to resume exports.

Latest shipping data released on Friday showed exports rose to 688,000 barrels a day this week, 25 percent of pre-strike flows and up 60 percent on the week.

Anti-government oil workers concede crude output has risen but say 85 percent of its workforce remain out.

Opposition data lags government estimates but both figures show a steady recovery over the past fortnight.

Oil markets are not betting on any swift increase in Venezuelan output.

"For the oil markets, a definitive end of the strike does not translate into an immediate return to pre-strike output levels," said Michael Rothman of Merrill Lynch.

"Reliable indications suggest it may take 30-45 days to get production back to the 1.5 million barrel a day mark with 45-60 days to necessary to elevate production by an additional million." Pre-strike output was 3.2 million bpd.

OPEC on Friday made clear that it is already doing all it can to fill the Venezuelan gap with cartel Secretary-General Alvaro Silva saying he saw no shortage on world markets.

"What can we do more? I do not agree there is a lack of oil," he told reporters in Davos on the sidelines of the annual World Economic Forum. "The problem of the price is the threat of war."

Signs are that higher shipments from leading OPEC member Saudi Arabia are flowing in to the United States to blunt the impact of the Venezuelan disruption.

U.S. government figures on Thursday showed crude oil inventories up 1.5 million barrels to 273.8 million during the week to Friday.

The increase defied predictions that inventories would fall below 270 million barrels for the first time since 1975.

Fresh signs that the United States is willing to face down international opposition to an attack on Iraq made little impact on the oil market.

On Thursday, Washington shrugged off vocal opposition to what some allies see as a rush to war as China and Russia joined France, Germany and Canada in urging the United States to give U.N. weapons inspectors more time in Iraq.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Washington would find other supporters if it decided to launch military action.

"I don't think we'll have to worry about going it alone," Powell said in Washington after talks with Britain's supportive Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. He said Washington had made no decision on whether to seek an additional U.N. resolution to authorise use of force to disarm Baghdad.

Dealers said a war on Iraq was now priced into the oil market and cited predictions that any stoppage in Iraqi production could prove short-lived.

The Pentagon said it would make no sense for U.S. forces to hit oil facilities and oil companies said they were expecting only a brief stoppage in Iraq's two million barrels daily of exports.

"We are banking on a two- to four-week loss of Iraqi oil and we've covered ourselves," said a senior executive at a major oil company in comments typical of the industry view among companies contacted by Reuters. 

Asunto: 8 Grandes Mentiras de la Propaganda Chavista De: "Guillermo Esteves" gesteves@supercable.net.ve Fecha: Vie, 24 de Enero de 2003, 11:29 am

Estimado Profesor:

Le anexo un artículo muy bueno de Manuel Caballero que tenía guardado en mi computadora, y que casualmente lo tengo ya traducido al inglés. Tambien quería invitarlo a que visitara mi página web www.estaeslaruta.com y que puede usar cualquier archivo y documento que tengo ahi.

Atentamente, Guillermo Esteves

eluniversal.com - Daily news and summary

Eight big lies told by the Chavista propaganda. by Manuel Caballero Special for El Universal (this is an excerpt; please see the original article for full information)

European spheres see Venezuelan reality from the point of view sold by Mr. Chávez. For them we are racists and face a struggle between rich and poor; businessmen are fascists and the media are putschist; therefore, the nationalist government has not been able to fight corruption and work for the popular classes who put up with a minority’s outrages intended to destroy its peaceful and revolutionary project

1. There is a white minority against a dark majority who supports president Chávez in Venezuela. False: Venezuela is one of the few countries in the world where there is no racial or religious hate.

2. There is a conflict between poor and rich in Venezuela. False: It would be stupid to say that in Venezuela, like everywhere else, there are no classes opposing and struggling. But today the boundary is not between upper and lower classes but between the personalist authoritarism of Mr. Chávez’s government and the democratic collectivism of the opposition.

3. The popular classes are the support pillar for Hugo Chávez. This is a half-truth: Chávez effectively got the majority of his votes in the big cities’ poorest sectors, mainly thanks to a frantic demagoguery. However, the answer to this propaganda assertion needs further elaboration.

4. The opposition to Chávez is putschist and fascist. False: Denying this is not enough –it is certainly the biggest and at the same time the most shameless lie told by a government. It must not be forgotten that lieutenant-colonel Hugo Chávez Frías came to light politically in 1992 after having led two bloody military coups: if there is someone to be properly called putschist it would be him (who, by the way, took good care not to risk his neck).

5. Chávez’s government is civilian, legitimate, legal and stemming from popular sovereignty. Another half-truth: Or, at this point, less (a lot) then that. Chávez was elected with the popular vote –nobody intends to deny that– the same way Hitler, Mussolini and Fujimori were. But the process of his delegitimization started at the beginning of his mandate: he had the rules of the game changed so that his term, originally a non-extendible five year period, would be lengthen to six years with an immediate re-election, and which everyday he threatens to stretch until 2021.

6. Chávez fights against corruption. False: Chávez’s is one of the most corrupt governments Venezuela has had in its republican history.

7. There is freedom of speech in Venezuela. Another half truth: In Chávez’s Venezuela, thanks to a long tradition dating from 1936, there is freedom to express one’s opinion, and I attest this. But there is no freedom to inform –no other Venezuelan regime has witnessed so many outrages against media, ranging from attacks on media headquarters to aggressions against reporters in the street.

8. Chavez’s is a nationalist government. False: Like all fascisms, the Chavista regime exploits, ad nauseam, a blatant patriotism, focused on the idolatry of Liberator Simón Bolívar, whom it cites pell-mell to the same extent tyrant Juan Vicente Gómez used to in his day. But in fact, no one has strived more to give away Venezuelan interests to foreign capitals. posted by JoAnne 6:54 PM