www.forbes.com Reuters, 02.07.03, 3:26 PM ET By Matthew Robinson

CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb 7 (Reuters) - One of Venezuela's extra heavy Orinoco oil projects restarted with reduced production this week after being down for about two months because of a strike in protest of President Hugo Chavez, while three larger foreign-run projects remained shut, project officials said on Friday. The Orinoco projects, which partner state oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) with international oil majors such as U.S. ExxonMobil (nyse: XOM - news - people), ConocoPhillips (nyse: XOM - news - people), French TotalFinalElf <TOT.PA> and Norway's Statoil <STL.OL>, have been shut since early in the strike that began Dec. 2 in the world's No. 5 crude exporting country. The three projects that remain halted -- Petrozuata, Cerro Negro, and Sincor -- had been at or near full capacity before the stoppage. They use massive processing units to upgrade about 400,000 barrels of extra heavy crude from the Orinoco tar belt into "refinable" synthetic crude and were shut because of a lack of natural gas feedstock from PDVSA. Staff at the foreign-financed projects did not take part in the strike, which has wide support among PDVSA managers and executives, but nationwide logistical problems kept the projects from running normally. A fourth project, Hamaca, returned with limited production of 15,000 bpd this week. Hamaca had been producing 35,000 bpd to 40,000 bpd of blended extra-heavy and light oil for export in November as its upgrading unit has not yet been completed. "We are warming up some of our units, but the crude is going into storage," one source, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. It was not yet clear if pipeline problems and safety issues at shipping terminals could be cleared up that would allow the oil being pumped to be exported, the source said. Another Hamaca source said output could be fully restored by the end of the month if the problems were resolved soon. Chavez, struggling to break the strike and return the country's most important industry, had said on Sunday that the Orinoco projects would be back on line this week. SYNCRUDE STILL HALTED Cerro Negro, Sincor, and Petrozuata remain shut as PDVSA has not been able to guarantee a steady supply of natural gas needed to run upgraders. "We still don't have gas, that's the big limitation," a source with one project said. In addition, officials said they were not likely to begin exporting synthetic crude from storage until port conditions were declared safe. The government has enlisted replacement workers at terminals to load vessels, but shippers and foreign firm have hesitated to lift cargoes from uncertified staff that could create an insurance risk. "The mother companies (operating the projects) need the cash, and PDVSA would like them to start, but there are potential safety concerns. No firm can risk a major oil spill," an official with one project said on condition of anonymity. Negotiations with PDVSA to secure gas supplies and ports were ongoing, sources said. Efforts by replacement workers to restart oil exports, which normally supply half of state revenues, have increased shipments to 700,000 bpd, oil minister Rafael Ramirez said on Friday. Venezuela had been exporting nearly 2.7 million bpd before the strike began. Striking oil workers have said the government has only managed to restart about 1.3 million bpd of production, compared with total Venezuelan output of 3.1 million bpd before the strike.

www.forbes.com Reuters, 02.09.03, 6:29 PM ET By Matthew Robinson

CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Venezuela's efforts to bring back oil output disrupted by a two-month strike by foes of President Hugo Chavez appeared to stall last week as the government struggled to restore production in older fields. Using replacement workers to compensate for striking employees of state oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the government in January managed to restore output by about one million bpd, or about 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) every week. Chavez said on Sunday output had now reached 1.9 million bpd, a rise of about 100,000 bpd over the previous week and still short of the 3.1 million bpd pumped before the strike started on Dec. 2. Dissident PDVSA workers, who peg current output closer to 1.3 million bpd, and analysts say the government will find it difficult to restore the remaining oil production. Much of the shut output is located in older fields from the western Lake Maracaibo area that are difficult to restart. Rebel oil workers say it would take months restart these fields. They say oil production cannot be fully returned and that domestic refinery processing, currently about a third of the nation's 1.3 million bpd capacity, cannot be achieved unless they return to work. Chavez, who has already fired around 9,000 of the striking PDVSA employees, said on Sunday the recovery of oil production will continue and that he will take legal action against employees he said "sabotaged" oil installations. "By next week I'm sure we'll be over 2 million bpd," Chavez said on Sunday during his weekly radio and television program, "Hello, President". PDVSA President Ali Rodriguez has said output of 3 million bpd would be achieved in early March. Oil shipments by the world's No. 5 exporter contribute half of government revenues and normally supply over 13 percent of U.S. crude imports. But during the strike, the OPEC nation has been forced to import gasoline to meet internal demand of around 200,000 bpd. ORINOCO OIL STILL SHUT Analysts say restarting four foreign-financed Orinoco projects, which partner PDVSA with international oil majors such as U.S. ExxonMobil (nyse: XOM - news - people) and French TotalFinaElf<TOTF.PA>, represents the government's best chance to add another large volume of oil output soon. Chavez said last Sunday output from the four projects, which had pumped over 400,000 bpd of Venezuela's pre-strike output, would be restored last week. Only the Hamaca project, which is still under construction, has come back on line so far. It is producing around 15,000 bpd of blended crude that is being placed into storage compared with pre-strike levels of about 45,000 bpd. Three other projects which have completed upgrading units that allow the tar-like Orinoco oil to be processed into light, refineable synthetic crude, have not restarted. Project officials said Friday that PDVSA has not been able to guarantee a steady supply of natural gas feedstock needed for upgrading units, and that it was unclear when output would resume. REFINERY OUTPUT Chavez also said on Sunday the giant 940,000 bpd Amuay-Cardon refineries would restart 80,000 bpd of gasoline producing units next week. The hemisphere's largest refining complex is currently processing around 150,000 bpd of crude, but units needed to make finished products have not yet been returned. Striking PDVSA employees, who are attempting to force Chavez out of office, have said the complex units cannot be restarted by replacement workers. Output at the tiny 130,000 bpd domestic El Palito refinery was being restored as well, Chavez said. "Thanks to the workers, the military, and managers in the refinery, it is operational today and producing some 42,000 bpd of gasoline," he announced on Sunday.

ogj.pennnet.com By Sam Fletcher OGJ Senior Writer

HOUSTON, Feb. 7 -- Colder weather and declining supplies pushed heating oil futures prices to a 26-month high and nudged the March natural gas contact nearer the $6/Mcf mark Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Heating oil for March delivery jumped 3.31¢ to $1.03/gal in the wake of earlier reports by both the US Department of Energy and the American Petroleum Institute of large declines in US inventories of the fuel during the week ended Jan. 31 (OGJ Online, Feb. 6, 2003). Low temperatures in the major Northeast US market had heating-oil distributors scrambling for supply.

Analysts said energy market prices also were prodded higher by continued tough rhetoric among US officials against Iraq.

Meanwhile, Alvaro Silva Calderon, secretary general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and Claude Mandil, new executive director of the Paris-based International Energy Agency, called Friday for cooperation to stabilize world energy markets.

Visiting OPEC Secretariat offices in Vienna in his first official engagement outside of Paris, Mandil said IEA has the ability and capacity to deal with oil shortages. But as a policy, he said, IEA recognized that oil producers should always act first in times of difficulty. He praised OPEC's move to increase oil production quotas this month to offset the 68-day strike in Venezuela that curtailed oil production and exports.

In a nationwide radio and television speech Thursday, Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez announced that his government and the Central Bank of Venezuela signed a new foreign exchange agreement setting a new exchange rate of 1,600 bolivars to the US dollar. The exchange rate plunged to a record low of 1,853 bolivars to the dollar on Jan. 21, prompting Venezuela's Finance Ministry to suspend foreign exchange trading since Jan. 22.

Chávez also decreed maximum price controls on a wide range of goods and services including food, medicines, soap, school books and uniforms, water, electricity, natural gas, residential telephone services, public transport, and hospital care. He said his government is working on a new penal law dealing with speculation in foreign currency and appointed a new Foreign Exchange Administration Commission.

Meanwhile, officials at Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) said 9,000 of the state oil company's 35,000 employees have been fired for participating in the strike, up from 5,000 previously.

PDVSA Pres. Alí Rodríguez Araque has said he plans to restructure the company's entire workforce to improve its efficiency. However, critics claim Chávez's administration plans to eliminate political opposition and maintain control of the state-owned company.

Energy prices The March contract for benchmark US light, sweet crudes gained 23¢ to $34.16/bbl Thursday on NYMEX. The April position inched up 6¢ to $33.33/bbl. Unleaded gasoline for March delivery slipped by 0.32¢ to $1.03/gal.

Meanwhile, European gasoline prices this week jumped to the highest level in 2 years as refiners maneuvered to ship more fuel to American markets. With virtually all of its refining capacity shut down by the strike, Venezuela is purchasing more gasoline abroad.

The recent surge in gasoline futures prices on NYMEX and declines in US supplies also opened more of the US market to imports. Traders expect at least 1.5 million tonnes of gasoline to be sent from Europe to the US in February.

The March natural gas contract gained 18.4¢ to $5.83/Mcf Thursday on NYMEX, wiping out the previous day's 11.8¢ loss to profit taking. That contract hit a new high of $5.91/Mcf in early trading Thursday after the US Energy Information Administration reported the withdrawal of 208 bcf of natural gas from US underground storage during the week ended Jan. 31, said analysts at Enerfax Daily. However, prices were rolled back in a wave of profit taking among locals and speculators at the end of the session

"The huge storage withdrawal reported this week caps the largest 3-week withdrawal, 674 bcf, in the market's history, leaving only 1.521 tcf in storage, well below the 5-year average," the analysts reported Friday. They cautioned, "Look for the market to hit $6(/Mcf) soon, at least momentarily. The cold is expected to hang around through the weekend."

Analysts said, "There is an unusually large number—about 18,000—of call options at the $6(/Mcf) level. However, so far, the March contract has failed to push through key technical resistance at $5.93(/Mcf), a level that was seen as a 50% retracement from its December 2000 highs of $10.10(/Mcf)."

In London, the March contract for North Sea Brent gained 8¢ to $31.44/bbl on the International Petroleum Exchange. The March natural gas contract dipped 2.3¢ to the equivalent of $2.69/Mcf on IPE.

The average price for OPEC's basket of seven benchmark crudes gained 25¢ to $30.77/bbl Thursday. Contact Sam Fletcher at samf@ogjonline.com

www.arabnews.com By Hassan Tahsin

After Sept. 11, the United States added to its war on terrorism the disposing of weapons of mass destruction. First of all, what are weapons of mass destruction? Who possess them? Who has the ability to manufacture and use them? Which country has previously used them?

As for the first question, we all know the answer — all kinds of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

Who owns them? The five permanent members of the UN Security Council possess the whole range of weapons of mass destruction and are fully capable of using them. In addition, others with the weapons include Israel, India, Pakistan and possibly North Korea. Chemical and biological weapons are available to a large number of countries and are sometimes known as “the poor man’s bomb.” Most of these countries have signed nuclear non-proliferation treaties (including chemical and biological). None of these countries, however, make their capabilities public and I believe that these are well known to the American administration whose ability to gather information by a wide variety of means is very great.

When we come to the third question, we see that there is more than one country with advanced nuclear programs and they are only awaiting a political decision which will allow them to start producing them. In this group are Brazil and Argentina.

What remains now is the last question and we know very well that the only time a nuclear weapon has been used was by the US when it destroyed the two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This leads us logically to demand that Washington be the first nation to dispose of its own weapons of mass destruction.

As for chemical and biological weapons, these were used a number of times by various European powers from the beginning to the end of the 20th century. The US record of using these weapons can be summarized in the following way:

The US used biological weapons in 1966 during the Vietnam War. They were used against civilian populations and also to destroy both crops and forests.

In 1971, the CIA attempted to kill Fidel Castro by poisoning his food or cigars but failed in these attempts. The CIA also killed half-a-million pigs in Cuba by spreading plague.

Israel was another leader in the use of chemical and biological weapons; it began doing so by spreading dysentery among the Palestinians in 1948.

In 1925, confronted with the danger of these weapons, the Geneva Protocol was drafted to prevent the use of chemical and biological weapons in wars and was ratified by 29 countries. The United States was in fact the most prominent country which refused to ratify or take any part in the protocol.

Individual, bilateral or otherwise limited attempts are not sufficient to make real the dream of ridding the world of weapons of mass destruction. One reason for this is that personal interests normally come into play when dealing with the problem. This situation is unacceptable.

The obligation to disarm falls first on the countries that have already used these weapons and only then on those which merely possess them. Nonetheless, all countries should meet in a new expanded international conference and take a more positive stand aimed at disposing of all kinds of weapons of mass destruction without exception; otherwise the problem will never be solved.

Arab News Opinion 10 February 2003

straitstimes.asia1.com.sg

BRASILIA - Plastic surgeons are running out of silicone because so many women want breast implants ahead of the world-famous carnival.

According to online news website Ananova, the rush for implants in Brazil is at record levels, ahead of the carnival which is scheduled to begin on March 1. Advertisement

The website quoted Dr Paulo Matsudo, director of the Brazilian Society of Plastic Surgery, as saying that the demand for breast implants had shown a tremendous increase this year.

'The summer time plus the proximity with the carnival are increasing the demand for silicone breast implants and imports are not sufficient to meet so many requests,' he said.

Perrose Pherthese silicone company spokesman Sandra Guerra said:

'The demand is too high.

'We have lost many sales in the last couple of months because we don't have enough prosthesis.'

Dr Matsudo said a new trend was that more and more Brazilians were looking for buttock silicone implants.

'Brazilians value the buttocks very much. We are doing lots of this kind of surgery as well,' he said.