<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Wednesday, April 02, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

Venezuela's Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by only 0.8% in March, compared with 5.5% in February, the lowest rise since 2001.

The small increase was largely due to maximum price controls imposed by the government on a wide variety of basic goods, as officials sought to fight off the effects of spiraling inflation brought about by serious economic woes and the two month long opposition work stoppage which cost the nation's economy over $6 billion.

According to Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) figures, the price of goods coming under maximum price controls actually fell by an average of 1.5%, compared to February's rise of 3.4%, while goods not covered by the controls rose by an average of 3.9%, well below February climb of 8.1%. March's increase takes the cumulative total for the year up to 9.4%.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Wednesday, April 02, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

Business sector leaders have again criticized the Confederation of Trade Unions' (CTV) call for 30% pay rises, stressing that in the current economic environment preserving jobs was significantly more important than looking for pay increases.

Industrial Confederation (Conindustria) president Lope Mendoza pointed to the fact that unemployment in the industrial sector currently stands at around 16%, and warned that this figure may increase over the remainder of this year.

Mendoza warned against heaping any additional pressures on employers' shoulders, as well as on the government, which due to the opposition work stoppage is also short on funds needed for any possible salary hike. Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Fedecamaras) vice president Albis Munoz echoed the sentiment.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Wednesday, April 02, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

Former Argentine President Raul Alfonsin has held meetings with several Venezuelan officials including Executive Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel during a visit to Venezuela to discuss the current political situation in the country.

Foreign (MRE) Minister Roy Chaderton Matos was also present at the meeting, and stressed that the former President was in Venezuela to see for himself what was going on.

Chaderton told reporters that Alfonsin "is a friend of Venezuela and has a broad knowledge of Venezuelan democracy.

The talks are also thought to have involved the sharing of political management experiences between the Venezuelans and Argentineans.

The visit comes just days after Rangel visited Buenos Aires as part of a whistle stop tour of many Latin American countries to inform then on the Venezuelan situation.

<a href=news.ft.com>URL By Carola Hoyos in London Published: April 2 2003 12:04 | Last Updated: April 2 2003 12:04

BP on Wednesday outlined significantly improved refining margins for the first quarter of this year, foreshadowing a profitable quarter for the sector.

In another step away from using production volume as target measurement, the UK-based company, in its quarterly trading statement did not reveal its production levels, as it had done in past updates.

BP's global refining margin improved to $4.52 a barrel, up 64 per cent from the last quarter of 2002 and 176 per cent from a year ago.

Refining margins in the US have been stronger than those in north-west Europe and Singapore, a boost to BP in particular because of the company's relatively wide exposure there.

BP earned $6.77 for every barrel of oil it refined on the US West Coast and $6.14 on the Gulf Coast in the first quarter of this year, which ended on March 31. Refining margins in the Midwest were weaker at $4.14 a barrel, slightly disappointing for BP, whose refineries process 500,000-600,000 barrels a day in Indiana and Ohio, analysts said.

The improvements were largely due to the increase in world oil prices because of a combination of export interruptions in Venezuela, Nigeria and Iraq at a time of historically low commercial reserve stocks, especially in the US.

Jon Rigby, analyst at Commerzbank, said: "It's positive for BP, positive for the sector, but there are a couple of little points that take off some of the gloss."

The disappointments were the reduced margins in BP's chemical business. The company said it expected its chemical margins in the first quarter of this year to be "sharply lower" than the fourth quarter of last year, because of the rising cost of oil, gas and other feedstocks used.

Mr Rigby also pointed out that BP was not fully able to benefit from the increased gas prices in the US because of its exposure in local markets, where prices did not improve as much as the main Henry Hub marker price. BP expects only to realise $2/mcf improvement of the natural gas price, which at Henry Hub is expected to increase by 2.54/mcf. Nevertheless, that realisation would be more in line with marker prices than BP's results at the end of last year.

BP put the price of West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark crude, at $34.00 a barrel, up $5.69 from the last quarter of 2002, while Brent, the European benchmark crude, was pegged at $31.47 a barrel, up $4.59. Natural gas benchmark prices in the US were $6.53 per mmbtu (million British thermal units), up from $3.99 at the end of last year, while UK prices were 21.28 p/therm, up from 19.09p.

In late morning trade the shares were down 1.1 per cent at 410-3/4p.

Pravda.RU:World:More in detail 13:11 2003-04-02

On Sunday, during his usual radio program, Hugo Chavez, made clear his idea to develop closer ties with Brazil and Argentina and, eventually, be a formal member of the Mercosur block. If Caracas' approach is taken seriously by Brazil and Buenos Aires, the geopolitical structure of Latin America could change dramatically and the world would see the birth of a new strategic power.

"I have already talked about this before: now more than never Venezuela aims to be part of the Mercosur", said Chavez during his weekly speech named "Alo Presidente". Chavez also said that he shared Brazil and Argentina's will to restructure Mercosur and went further when announced that Venezuela was ready to help to reach such objective.

"We have to give Mercosur a political dimension, not only economical, to make it the framework of South America's political union", expressed Chavez. On Venezuela President-s words, powerful South America could contribute to world's balance.

A potential union between Venezuela and Mercosur could be of geopolitical interest for the world. Venezuela is the world's fifth largest oil producer; at the same time, Brazil is the world's largest offshore oil producer and both countries hold State-owned crude monopolies. Therefore, the oil production, pumping, exportation and reserves are controlled by the State.

In Argentina the situation is different. This South American country is an important oil exporter, but the activity has been privatized in 1999. Today, the Spanish group Repsol-YPF controls the national company, but reserves still belong to the State.

If Argentina dares to review oil contracts, it could join Brazil and Venezuela to create the world's largest oil pole, by surpassing Middle East and Russia. Therefore, would play a decisive role to establish prices in the oil industry and become a key energetic factor.

This is only speculation; however it could turn into reality some day. Today, Venezuela is member of the Andean Community of Nations (CAN by its initials in Spanish), together with Bolivia (Mercosur associated member), Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. The Mercosur and the CAN are negotiating since 1995 a formal integration between both blocks. However, until now, talks did not reach positive results. It is of Washington-s interest not to allow further South American integration outside the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas.

During the Independence wars against the Spanish Kingdom at the beginning of the XIX Century, the Venezuelan Simon Bolivar and the Argentine General Jose de San Martin drove South America to liberation. Both Chavez's self-denominated "Bolivarian Revolution" and the new Brazilian process led by Lula Da Silva, have targeted South American integration, as their main goal on foreign policy. Will Lula and Chavez be the Bolivar and the San Martin of the new millenium? Perhaps they are the last chance for the region.

Hernan Etchaleco PRAVDA.Ru Argentina