www.sun-sentinel.com By Joseph B. Frazier The Associated Press Posted February 26 2003

MARACAIBO, Venezuela · Under the scorching sun on Lake Maracaibo, thousands of oil wells suck up natural gas and crude oil, the wealth of Venezuela. But much more crude than usual has ended up in the water since oil workers joined a national strike against President Hugo Chávez in December, environmentalists and government critics contend. Although the walkout against Chávez has fizzled, many oil workers remain off the job. Critics say the shortage of employees and lack of know-how among those who are working is causing severe environmental damage. The state-owned oil monopoly, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, denies that. It insists spills are small and rare and that they are quickly controlled. It also blames many of the spills on striker sabotage. The situation is difficult to check independently. The oil fields have been sealed off by army and national guard troops who enforce a no-fly zone over the lake and turn back boats carrying journalists trying to get a look. "They won't let us overfly the lake to look for oil slicks anymore," said Eddie Ramírez, a former executive for the oil monopoly. "It's all militarized now. We still have people working in the oil fields who give us information. But it is getting harder to get." Crude is critical in Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest exporter and a major supplier to the United States. Lake Maracaibo, 325 miles west of Caracas, is a major producer. Since World War I, about 14,000 wells have been drilled in the lake. About 8,000 are active. Estimates vary, but between 15,000 and 28,000 miles of pipes and tubes snake along the bottom. "There is no operation in the world like this," said Felix Rodríguez, recently named by Chávez's government to head oil operations in western Venezuela. Oil operations are spread over 60 percent of the lake's 5,200 square miles. Latticed derricks poke skyward from platforms. Black pumping units bob up and down relentlessly. More modern wells rise a few feet above the water and are driven by electric pumps. About 35,000 of the monopoly's 40,000 employees went on strike Dec. 2, joining the opposition general strike aimed at forcing out Chávez, whom they blame for the country's political and economic strife. The general strike failed, but the oil walkout continues. Chávez has fired more than 11,000 oil strikers and split the oil monopoly into eastern and western divisions to tighten government control over operations. Production is creeping back to pre-strike levels, but the government says it's hampered by sabotage. The private Venezuelan Environmental Foundation said it flew over the lake on Dec. 11, before the flight ban, and sighted 17 spills. The foundation said one well was spewing oil and water more than 30 feet into the air, and experts estimated it was spilling 1,100 barrels a day. Lenin Herrera, a chemical engineer and former head of the Institute for the Conservation and Control of Lake Maracaibo, said spills of petroleum and production chemicals are a major source of contamination. "There have been unjustifiable spills since the strike. There was a spill in January that went three or four days without being fixed. Later a well spilled for two or three days," he said.

www.miami.com Posted on Wed, Feb. 26, 2003 BY PHIL GUNSON Special to The Herald

HEAVY DAMAGE: The facade of the Colombian Consulate in Caracas, Venezuela, is in ruins after early-morning bomb blasts Tuesday struck it and a Spanish facility.

CARACAS - Two powerful bombs exploded outside foreign diplomatic missions Tuesday, deepening the climate of violence in a nation already on edge because of a prolonged political crisis swirling around President Hugo Chávez and his critics.

The bombs went off in the early morning, within 20 minutes of each other. Although there were only four slight injuries -- two caused by flying glass -- the property destruction was considerable.

The four-story Colombian Consulate in the Chacaito district was wrecked, and the Spanish technical cooperation mission -- next door to the Spanish Embassy -- suffered major damage to its gate and exterior wall.

The blast shattered windows in many nearby buildings and showered the streets with debris.

''The consulate is completely devastated,'' said Leopoldo López, mayor of the Chacao municipality, where more than 80 percent of Caracas' diplomatic buildings are located. ''We haven't seen this type of attack in Venezuela before,'' the mayor noted after inspecting the building's interior.

Police sources said the blasts had probably been detonated by remote control using C-4 plastic explosives.

They came just 36 hours after President Hugo Chávez bitterly criticized the Colombian and Spanish governments for expressing concern over the arrest of a leading member of the opposition whose detention was widely seen as part of a political crackdown by Chávez.

The president also denounced the United States and the Organization of American States' secretary-general, César Gaviria.

The Bush administration linked this week's ''sharp verbal attacks'' by Chávez to the upsurge in violence, suggesting that the Venezuelan leader was reneging on a Feb. 18 pledge to curb fiery remarks likely to incite violence.

CONFRONTATION

''The confrontational rhetoric is unwarranted, is unnecessary and is not helpful,'' White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. ``Inflammatory statements by President Chávez are not helpful in advancing the dialogue that is necessary to maintain peace in Venezuela.''

Asked if the Bush administration believed there was a link between fiery remarks by Chávez and the new round of violence, State Dept. spokesman Philip Reeker recounted how Chávez had lashed out at his critics this week.

On his regular Sunday morning TV and radio show Aló Presidente, Chávez at times appeared almost speechless with anger as he denounced those he accused of violating Venezuela's sovereignty.

COUNTRIES' CONCERN

All had expressed concern over the jailing last week of Carlos Fernández, chairman of the business association Fedecámaras and a leader of the recent, 63-day strike aimed at forcing an early election. Additionally, Colombian Interior Minister Fernando Londoño had accused Chávez of having links to Colombia's leftist guerrillas.

''Aznar -- please!'' said Chávez, referring to Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar, whose government, he said, had ''applauded'' last April's abortive coup attempt. Both Aznar and César Gaviria, he said, should stick to ``their place.''

Gaviria, a former president of Colombia and now OAS secretary-general, has been attempting since November to achieve a negotiated settlement of the country's political crisis.

To the government of Colombia, he angrily declared: ``Concentrate on governing your own country! And on solving your own problems, which are many! We'll solve ours!''

Flyers attacking foreign ''intervention'' were found at the scenes of the bomb attacks Tuesday.

They bore the names of the Bolivarian Liberation Force -- FBL -- and the Simón Bolívar Coordinator, the CSB, two radical groups that support the Chávez government but which are not known to be linked.

The FBL is a shadowy guerrilla organization which operates near the Colombian border, while the CSB has a public presence in the slums of western Caracas, where it carries out ``community work.''

''Gaviria, Carter, OAS, CIA -- the revolution does not need your self-interested intervention,'' one of the flyers read.

There were several other messages, all apparently laser-printed and in color.

Juan Contreras, leader of the CSB, said the organization condemned the attack, which he attributed to ``some elements of the opposition which are desperate to return to power.''

''I don't think anyone with any sense would carry out an attack like this and then say they did it,'' Contreras added.

The opposition Democratic Coordinator, or CD, has accused the Chávez government of violating the terms of an antiviolence agreement signed last week -- the first concrete achievement of the talks chaired by Gaviria.

ALREADY UNHAPPY

Even before the bombings, Timoteo Zambrano, a member of the opposition negotiating team, said the CD might ''withdraw its signatures'' from the agreement.

In the aftermath of the attacks, opposition leaders accused Chávez of contributing to a climate of violence by using the kind of ''wounding language'' specifically ruled out by the agreement.

Government spokesmen dismissed the charge. ''We don't believe this is a result of comments and affirmations by the president,'' said the interior minister, Gen. Lucas Rincón.

Herald staff writer Tim Johnson contributed to this report.

www.freep.com

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said Tuesday it may be two to three months before Venezuelan oil shipments to the United States return to normal levels, now that the crisis that shut down production in the country has passed.

Abraham, appearing before a Senate committee, also said the Bush administration was ready to tap its emergency reserves, but would do so only if there are severe disruptions of supplies and only in consultation with other major energy-consuming nations.

His testimony came as energy prices across the board -- from gasoline to crude oil, heating oil and natural gas -- continue to soar.

Pressed on the matter, Abraham said he couldn't be specific on the level of Venezuelan imports. But he said a delay of 60 to 90 days could be expected between an increase in production in Venezuela and barrels of that country's oil arriving in the United States.

Asked about using the government's Strategic Petroleum Reserve to dampen prices, Abraham reiterated the administration's conviction that the emergency supplies of oil should be used only to counter severe shortages and not to influence prices.

news.mysanantonio.com Web Posted : 02/26/2003 12:00 AM   Tyson is the freak, Etienne the clown, and the rest of boxing spins with three rings, an elephant and a guy shooting himself out of a cannon.

In one ring of this circus is Don King and his hair. In another is Tyson and his tattoo. In a third is a litany of lawsuits, kidnappings, comebacks, arrests and guys getting shot in the legs while training.

What? You didn't hear?

Last week, super flyweight champion Alexander Munoz took a bullet to the knee while jogging in Caracas, Venezuela. Munoz fought with three assailants, tried to escape and got shot.

"Sadly," he told reporters, "you can't even train in peace anymore."

Fortunately, Munoz is expected to make a full recovery. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about his sport.

Boxing is on the ropes. It is bruised, it is battered, it is bleeding. But it isn't going away. Boxing might be hooked to a respirator — its every breath as artificial as Tyson's last KO — but no one will pull the plug because the dead can make the living a lot of money.

Clifford "The Corpse" Etienne made $1 million for hitting the canvas in 49 seconds. Tyson made $5 million for putting him there. Promoters and handlers left with large cuts from those purses before going to work on the next sham.

If there was any doubt about the truth of Tyson-Etienne, Tyson trainer Freddie Roach eliminated it with this post-fight comment: "Etienne had been knocked down nine times by guys who couldn't punch. I knew if Mike hit him he wouldn't get up."

I'm not sure when boxing crossed from savage to stupid, but Tyson-Etienne underscored the change. Quick, when was the last boxing show to feature a disgraced former ice skater on the undercard?

Tonya Harding, welcome to the sport of drunks, addicts and felons.

Tonya, you'll find an occasional good guy in boxing (sorry, but "Jesse" James Leija is married), you'll even find an occasional great match, but mostly you'll find lunacy and lies.

Take promoter Bob Arum. Arum is known for a lot of things, but in media circles he's best known for a career-defining admission: "OK, yesterday I was lying, but today I'm telling the truth."

Lunacy?

Where shall we begin?

Check the courthouse and you'll find more than 100 lawsuits filed against Don King. Check with police and you'll find reports numbering more than 100 pages about Johnny Tapia.

Check the sports pages, and on any given day you'll find a fighter going to court (Vitali Klitschko suing the WBC on Feb. 20 to force a match with Lennox Lewis), a fighter going to jail (Pernell Whitaker getting stopped for DUI on Valentine's Day) or a fighter getting busted at a gambling house (authorities apprehending Vinnie Paz on Feb. 20 at the Foxwoods Resort Casino and charging him with passing bad checks).

Then there's my personal favorite — a fighter who kidnaps his family, claims brain damage, then threatens to make a comeback when he gets out of prison.

You think I'm making this up?

Two weeks ago, Riddick Bowe, the former heavyweight champion, told a Nevada reporter, "I'm going to shock the world again," and you could take that a lot of different ways.

Bowe shocked the world when he abducted his wife and children in 1998. His attorneys shocked the world when they argued that Bowe couldn't help himself because he was brain damaged from 41 fights. Then Bowe shocked the world when he told a Nevada reporter that his attorneys made up the brain damage defense to keep him out of prison.

The brain damage defense was curious because, well, Bowe retired after taking blows to the, um, groin from Andrew Golota in 1996.

Groin damage. Brain damage. Whatever. Bowe wants to fight again after his release from prison, and you know who would be the perfect opponent?

The guy whom many insist is weirder than Wacko Jacko. Mike Tyson likes to eat children. Michael Jackson only likes to sleep with them.

Somewhere out there a promoter is smiling. Let the next freak show begin.

krodriguez@express-news.net

www.casperstartribune.net

By DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER Star-Tribune energy reporter Wednesday, February 26, 2003

GILLETTE -- Natural gas producers are enjoying the high side of the ebb-and-tide pricing market now nearing the $4.50 per thousand cubic feet (mcf) of gas mark at Wyoming trading hubs, according to Enerfax Daily. Cold winter weather in the eastern portion of the U.S. has helped boost prices for all producing areas, including the Rockies -- an area that was slammed this past summer with prices that dipped to $1 per mcf and below. Such seasonal changes are expected in the natural gas pricing market. But in a telephone conference Monday about his company's pending merger with Ocean Energy, Inc., Devon Energy Corp. chairman, president and CEO Larry Nichols proclaimed natural gas prices could remain on the high side for a long time to come. "We have moved into a new era of gas prices," Nichols said. Speaking of natural gas pricing at Louisiana's Henry Hub, Nichols added, "The days of trading at $2 (per mcf) or less are gone forever. Because of the way storage is being depleted, we are going to see some of the highest gas prices in history." Stu Wagner, a natural gas market analyst with Petrie Parkman & Co. in Denver, said he agrees natural gas prices are not likely to dip to this past summer's lows, and there's many reasons to believe prices will remain strong for the rest of 2003. "We'd agree that the era of $2.50 gas is over. That is, at Henry Hub," Wagner said, noting that the Rockies still trails the rest of the nation's wholesale natural gas prices by about $2 per mcf. "We've had a very strong withdrawal from storage as a result of cold weather, and we've had a low rig count for the past 18 months, and we're not replacing production," Wagner said. Cold weather is depleting gas storage -- now nearly 43 percent below one year ago, according to the Energy Information Administration. However, there are other forces at play. Wagner said the price of crude oil has been pushed to the mid-$30 per barrel due to the possibility of war in Iraq and the oil strike in Venezuela. Natural gas pricing follows crude pricing, and both have been on the rise. "If there is war in Iraq and it's settled relatively quickly without a lot of interruption to crude oil supplies, we think you'll see crude oil drop down to the mid- to low $20s per barrel. And we'd expect some sympathy reaction from natural gas," Wagner said. Nichols said Devon Energy's North American operations are focused mostly on natural gas, and that focus will remain given the future pricing climate. "Prices will knock out some demand, but it can't knock out all the demand," Nichols said in the telephone conference. "This year is the first time since 1986 that Canadian imports actually fell. ... We think it's going to be robust for natural gas all year long."