www.vheadline.com Posted: Friday, February 28, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

The United States State Department has told senior Venezuelan officials that it now sees Venezuela as an unreliable supplier of petroleum and expressed serious doubts over political unrest which it believes has caused Venezuela's reliability to come into question. 

State Department spokesman Charles Barclay said the Venezuelan government would have to settle its differences with the opposition and reach an agreement to end the current unrest before Venezuela could once again be seen as a reliable supplier ... "a constitutional, democratic, peaceful and electoral" solution must be found. 

The comments came as Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) president Ali Rodriguez Araque and Energy & Mines (MEM) Minister Rafael Ramirez were visiting the Washington to assure the US government that it can rely on Venezuela to lift its oil supply should war on Iraq force prices higher.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Friday, February 28, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

According to Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) president Ali Rodriguez Araque, the Amuay refinery should be completely up and running midway through March. If this is possible, it will be a huge step in the battle to recover Venezuelan production which fell sharply as a result of the opposition work stoppage. The refinery has a capacity of around 960,000 barrels per day.

Rodriguez also said that the force majeure will be lifted as soon as production recovers to above 2.5 million barrels per day. He estimates that current output is two million barrels per day, while striking PDVSA executives claim the number is nearer to 1.6 million.

"Of course as we normalize production, and this will occur when we're above 2.5 million barrels per day, the force majeure will be suspended entirely."

The force majeure in the east of Venezuela has already been lifted, but problems restarting complex older wells in the west of the country have delayed production rises.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Friday, February 28, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

US Ambassador to Venezuela Charles Shapiro has expressed his nation's concern over the escalation of violence in Venezuela over the past two weeks.  The US diplomat met with Interior & Justice (MIJ) Minister Lucas Rincon, during which the pair discussed the killings of three soldiers and a civilian two weeks ago as well as the explosions at Spanish and Colombian diplomatic missions in Caracas earlier this week.

"We are worried because obviously they were executions ... we are worried about the physical and verbal violence from both sides, I have said this on several occasions."

Shapiro's comments come several days after President Hugo Chavez Frias told US State Department spokesmen to stop meddling in Venezuelan affairs.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Friday, February 28, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

The two-month-long opposition national work stoppage has cost Venezuela around $7.6 billion according to Finance (Hacienda) Ministry estimates. According to the Ministry, the strike has forced businesses to close down, reduced wages, increased unemployment, lifted prices and caused shortages.

"The damages caused are severe and long term, they will permanently affect the whole population," Finance Minister Tobias Nobrega said.

The Minister estimates that the total loss of production caused by the strike amounts to $6.2 billion, while loss of fiscal income for the government adds another $1.4 billion.

Of the loss of production, $2.7 billion is from the petroleum sector and $3.5 billion from the non-petroleum sectors.

www.forbes.com Reuters World News Highlights 1000 GMT Feb 28 Reuters, 02.28.03, 5:03 AM ET

BAGHDAD - Iraq will comply with U.N. demands to destroy al-Samoud 2 missiles and dismantling of the weapons could begin on Saturday, Iraqi sources said. The sources confirmed that Baghdad had sent a letter to Hans Blix, chief of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), in which it said it would abide by his order to destroy the missiles.

UNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON - The United States dismissed Baghdad's agreement to destroy its al-Samoud 2 missiles and pressed on with its war preparations against Iraq, deploying a sixth aircraft carrier and B-2 stealth bombers.

BEIJING - Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Russia opposed any U.N. Security Council resolution which would lead to a war to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction and declined to rule out a Russian veto.

SEOUL - North Korea, which is reported to have fired up a key nuclear reactor, now looks set to raise tensions further by preparing to start reprocessing plutonium and test a ballistic missile, officials and reports said.

KARACHI - A gunman killed at least two police officers and wounded six other people outside the U.S. consulate in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, police said.

WASHINGTON - Warplanes taking part in U.S.-British air patrols attacked three air defence targets in the northern "no-fly" zone of Iraq and two targets in the southern "no-fly" zone in response to Iraqi threats, the U.S. military said.

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon began a second term at the head of a hawkish coalition that includes fierce opponents of a Palestinian state and staunch supporters of Jewish settlement on occupied land.

NICOSIA - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders had agreed to a new deadline of March 10 for them to sign a peace deal to unite the island.

JAKARTA - Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir was handed over to prosecutors in Indonesia to face trial for treason, police said. Bashir has been described by several Southeast Asian nations as the spiritual leader of the Jemaah Islamiah network that officials blame for the Bali bomb blasts. He denies any link.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's negotiators failed to show up for talks with the opposition, and foes accused the leftist leader of resisting efforts to discuss how to end a long-running political conflict.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to ban all forms of human cloning, roundly defeating a rival bill that would allow the use of cloning technology for medical research.

DILI - East Timor prosecutors charged more than 50 people, including a former police chief and a militia boss, with crimes against humanity over violence surrounding a 1999 vote for independence from Indonesia.