sg.biz.yahoo.com Wednesday February 26, 4:19 AM

CARACAS -(Dow Jones)- U.S. oil giant ChevronTexaco Corp. (CVX) will load a tanker with 270,000 barrels of crude at the port of Bajo Grande in western Venezuela in the coming days, state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela said Tuesday in a press release.

The Shino Ussa tanker will arrive shortly at the Bajo Grande port to load 270,000 barrels of Boscan crude, the press release said. It would be the first significant shipment by a major foreign oil company in the western part of the region. In the eastern part, shipping operations have almost returned to normal.

"Various international clients are going to restart their loading procedures in the west," Arnoldo Luzardo was quoted as saying. Luzardo is general manager in the area.

Earlier Tuesday, the nation's Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said a force majeure on the production and exports of some light crudes of Venezuela's state-owned oil monopoly, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PdVSA (E.PVZ), has been lifted. The three different types of crude are being produced in the eastern region.

The force majeure was declared three days after a nationwide general strike started Dec. 2, an action to which 35,000 PdVSA employees - the vast majority of the company's total workforce - adhered. It temporarily released the company and its clients from contractual obligations.

A force majeure on liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG, has also been lifted, Ramirez added. It remains unclear when the force majeure can be fully lifted.

Crude production and exports in western Venezuela will continue under the force majeure clause. In western Venezuela, crude production is more difficult as added pressure by gas or water is needed to extract the crude from mostly mature fields. That requires additional investment and is much more labor intensive.

-By Fred Pals, Dow Jones Newswires; 58212-5641339; fred.pals@dowjones.com;

news.bbc.co.uk

The Venezuelan authorities have pledged to increase security around foreign buildings after bomb attacks on the Spanish and Colombian embassies.

The blasts took place early on Tuesday local time injuring three people and causing some damage.

The Venezuelan Vice President, Jose Vicente Rangel, told the BBC the Venezuelan government would to anything in its power to avoid further acts of what he called macro-terrorism.

A US State Department spokesman condemned the attacks, saying: "We not that those bombs follow some sharp verbal attacks by President (Hugo) Chavez on the international community, as well as on individual Venezuelans and institutions".

On Sunday, Mr Chavez lambasted the international community for "meddling" in Venezuela's affairs and singled out Colombia for its criticism of the president's contacts with Colombian rebels.

Leaflets

Leaflets from a pro-Chavez group, the Bolivarian Liberation Force, were found at the scene of the blasts.

If this had been at two in the afternoon instead of at two in the morning we would have had a lot of dead

Mayor of Chacao district

"Our revolution will not be negotiated, only deepened," one leaflet read, according to Reuters news agency.

The Venezuelan deputy foreign minister vowed to find those responsible for the attacks.

"If this had been at two in the afternoon instead of at two in the morning we would have had a lot of dead," said the mayor of Caracas's Chacao district, Leopoldo Lopez.

Opponent's arrest

Tension has been rising again in Venezuela following the arrest last week of one of the leaders of long-running protests against Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez.

Carlos Fernandez, who is now under house arrest, has been accused of treason and civil rebellion.

His arrest provoked protests in Venezuela and international concern.

In his weekly broadcast on Sunday, Hello President, Mr Chavez told the world community to stop interfering in Venezuelan affairs.

Speaking to the governments of Colombia, Spain and the United States among others, Mr Chavez said: "We don't meddle in your affairs; please don't meddle in ours."

He warned Cesar Gaviria, chief mediator in fractious talks aiming to end the country's recent strike - and former Colombian president - not to step "out of line".

"This is a sovereign nation," he said.

www.sfgate.com Tuesday, February 25, 2003

(02-25) 13:37 PST CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) --

In another sign that Venezuela's oil industry is recovering from a strike, the oil minister said Venezuela was lifting a suspension on some production and export contracts.

Petroleos de Venezuela SA invoked a contract provision three days after an oil workers strike began Dec. 2 that temporarily released it and its clients from contractual obligations.

The provision has been lifted on production and export of three types of Venezuelan crude as well as liquified petroleum gas, Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said Tuesday.

Some 35,000 of 40,000 PDVSA workers joined a general strike intended to oust President Hugo Chavez. The strike failed and was called off Feb. 4, though oil workers stayed off the job. The government has fired more than 15,000 strikers at PDVSA.

PDVSA President Ali Rodriguez says production now stands at 2.02 million barrels per day, compared to a pre-strike figure of 3.2 million barrels per day. Dissident staff say output is closer to 1.5 million barrels per day.

Before the strike, Venezuela was the globe's fifth-largest oil exporter and a top supplier to the United States.

Ramirez and Rodriguez were traveling to Washington to convince U.S. officials that oil company operations are almost back to normal.

www.voanews.com VOA News 25 Feb 2003, 23:43 UTC

Venezuelan authorities say at least four people have been injured after powerful bombs exploded in the Colombian and Spanish diplomatic missions in Caracas.

Officials say the bombs exploded within 15 minutes of each other Tuesday, first at the Spanish Embassy and then at the Colombian consulate. The blasts left the facades of both buildings in shambles and damaged nearby structures.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, but authorities say leaflets signed by a pro-government group were found scattered at both sites.

The trouble comes two days after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez accused Colombia and Spain of siding with his opponents.

The two countries, among others, had expressed concern about the government's recent arrest of business leader Carlos Fernandez.

He helped organize Venezuela's two-month general strike that was aimed at forcing President Chavez to resign and call early elections. Venezuelan Deputy Foreign Minister Arevalo Mendez condemned the attacks, saying authorities will find the people responsible.

State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said the bombings and other recent developments in Venezuela highlight the need for that government and its opponents to uphold a recent agreement to avoid violence.

The Atlanta-based Carter Center, which works around the world to mediate conflicts, also called on both sides to abide by the commitments stated in the accord. Last year, the Carter Center sent a delegation to Venezuela in an effort to bridge the country's political divide.

www.forbes.com Reuters, 02.25.03, 7:30 PM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Oil major BP <BP.L> sold its stakes in two Venezuelan exploration blocks to Europe's Perenco for $160 million, shedding assets that produced 26,100 barrels per day in 2002, BP said on Tuesday. BP said the asset sale was part of a general corporate restructuring and had nothing do with the country's ongoing political crisis, which sparked an oil strike in December that severely disrupted the oil sector of the world's No. 5 crude exporter. "I would like to underscore the fact that this does not relate to the political crisis. This is purely a commercially driven decision," a BP spokesman said. Venezuela's state-owned oil firm PDVSA still must approve the sale, BP said. The world's third-biggest oil company said it was selling its 60 percent stake in the Boqueron field in eastern Venezuela and its 100 percent stake in the Dessarrollo Zulia Occidental, known by its initials DZO and located in Venezuela's west. Following the sale, BP said it would continue with two non-operated exploration and production projects in Venezuela. BP also continues in negotiations with the Venezuelan government for an offshore natural gas block in the OPEC nation's Deltana region.