27 May 2003 16:08:48 GMT
CARACAS, Venezuela,(Reuters) - An agreement between Venezuela's government and opposition for a possible referendum on Hugo Chavez's presidency will be signed in Caracas Thursday and should help to defuse their long-running political conflict, an international mediator said Tuesday.
"The signing will take place Thursday ... I believe that this will help to improve the political climate," Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria told reporters in Caracas.
The OAS, the United Nations, the Atlanta-based Carter Center and foreign governments had been pressing left-winger Chavez and his foes to agree elections to end more than a year of often violent feuding in the world's No. 5 oil exporter.
Following more than six months of tough negotiations brokered by Gaviria, Chavez's government and its foes Friday reached a 19-point accord in which both sides accept the idea of a possible referendum after August 19. They also agreed to shun violence and support a plan to disarm civilians.
After Aug. 19, which marks the halfway point of Chavez's current term, Venezuela's constitution allows the holding of a recall vote on his rule. But the opposition must first collect the signatures from 20 percent of voters.
"I don't know if there will be a recall referendum. It's a possibility if the opposition meets all the constitutional requirements," Chavez told Reuters in Cusco, Peru Friday during a summit of Latin American presidents.
It will be signed by Chavez's vice president, Jose Vicente Rangel, as the most senior government representative, opposition negotiators from a broad anti-Chavez coalition, Gaviria and U.N. and Carter Center officials.
Some opposition leaders fear that Chavez, a former paratrooper who won election in 1998 six years after failing to seize power in a coup, may still try to avoid the vote. His foes accuse him of ruling like a dictator and of trying to install Cuban-style communism.
Chavez has said he is willing to submit to the referendum, but the opposition must take the required steps to make the vote happen.
The agreement will be signed despite violence over the weekend in which gunfire disrupted a rally by opposition supporters in a pro-Chavez district of Caracas. One person was killed and 22 more were injured by bullets. Government and opposition blamed each other.
Venezuela's National Assembly, where Chavez supporters hold a slim majority, must select a new National Electoral Council to set a date for the referendum, verify the signatures and check the national electoral register.
Venezuela's government and opposition will sign an agreement on Thursday on a plan to hold a referendum on President Hugo Chavez's rule, the chief mediator of negotiations announced Tuesday.
The agreement, brokered by the Organization of American States, ends six months of formal talks between the two sides aimed at restoring stability to Venezuela. It also addresses possible votes on the terms of other elected officials.
The accord prohibits any amendments to election laws while authorities prepare for balloting. It also urges Congress to swiftly name election authorities.
"I hope the agreement will create a better climate than the one we have in the country today," said OAS Secretary-General Cesar Gaviria, the mediator. "I am convinced the agreement reached by the government and opposition is the solution we have been seeking."
Diplomats from six countries -- the United States, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Spain and Portugal -- that helped in talks will be present at the signing ceremony, Gaviria said.
The negotiations began in November, seven months after a coup that briefly toppled Chavez and exposed Venezuela's deep divisions over the former paratrooper's leftist economic policies and irreverent rhetoric.
Chavez's first election in 1998 ended the 40-year stronghold of two traditional parties accused of squandering Venezuela's vast oil wealth and leaving 80 percent of the population in poverty. He then pushed through a new constitution that paved the way for his own re-election in 2000 and elections that gave his allies control of Congress.
Chavez said he was leading "social revolution" against corruption and inequality. Adversaries -- business leaders, labor unions and the two traditional parties -- accused him of grabbing power and ruining the economy with leftist policies.
Months of unrest that followed the coup culminated in two-month strike to force Chavez's resignation. The strike collapsed in February, succeeding only in devastating the economy and costing Venezuela $6 billion. The economy shrank 29 percent in the first three months of 2003.
Venezuela's leaderless and demoralized opposition is now trying to organize a referendum to remove Chavez from office. The constitution would allow one in August, the midpoint in his six-year term. The next scheduled elections are in 2006.
Such referendums are also allowed for other elected officials. Chavez supporters are trying to organize votes against several legislators who defected from the ruling coalition, eroding the government's congressional majority to a handful of lawmakers.
Recent polls suggest Chavez's approval ratings range from 30 to 40 percent. To remove Chavez, the opposition must garner more votes than Chavez did in the last election: more than 3.7 million, or almost 60 percent.
LONDON, May 27 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Tuesday as traders expected the world's top exporter Saudi Arabia to cut supply next month, while oil inventories remained low in the United States as the high demand summer driving season took off.
Opening after a long holiday weekend, London benchmark Brent rose 41 cents to $26.65 a barrel, extending the gains chalked up on Friday. U.S. light crude rose 39 cents to $29.55 a barrel.
Traders said the market was worried about lower OPEC supply at a time oil stocks in the U.S., the world's biggest oil consumer, remained far below average for this time of the year.
The inventories have come into sharp focus as the Memorial day holiday last weekend marks the start of the U.S. driving season when Americans take to the roads on vacation.
U.S. gasoline consumption in the summer accounts for 12 percent of global energy demand during the period.
"There were all these expectations of a wall of crude which was supposed to arrive and resolve all the stock problems but that didn't seem to happen," said John Waterlow, analyst with Wood Mackenzie in Edinburgh.
"The position is that the stocks in the United States and global stocks need to be replenished, any excess crude supply will go towards that," he added.
LOW STOCKS
U.S. crude stocks stand 12 percent under year-ago levels while gasoline inventories are four percent below normal.
"The market is nervously higher. There are a lot of worries on unleaded gasoline," one oil trader said.
Adding to the worry is that Venezuela, a key gasoline source for the U.S., says it will further delay exports of reformulated clean burning gasoline that is mandatory in many U.S. states.
The first shipment, since a crippling two month strike ended in January, is now expected to leave in the first half of June.
Crude prices have rebounded by more than 10 percent since the start of May, as U.S. energy stocks have failed to return to normal after a harsh winter.
Concern is mounting that OPEC is now preparing to trim supplies. A Gulf source told Reuters on Monday that Saudi Arabia was preparing to cut June supplies to match the output quotas agreed on last month. It is expected to cut output to 8.25 million barrels per day (bpd) in June.
Consultancy Petrologistics said on Tuesday Saudi Arabia pumped 9.1 million bpd in May with overall OPEC output at 26.7 million bpd.
But the Saudi news was slightly tempered by reports that Iraq is gearing up for its first oil exports since the war, aiming to first sell some eight million barrels lying in storage at the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
The head of Iraq's state oil marketer SOMO, Mohammed al-Jibouri, told Reuters on Tuesday Baghdad aims to export the first post-war barrels of crude oil, now sitting in storage tanks, by mid-June.
He said a steady export flow should follow swiftly as output from the oilfields is rising fast.
Before the war, Iraq supplied four percent of globally traded oil and analysts say a resumption of Iraqi exports is likely to trigger a price slide in the third quarter of 2003.
Baghdad is already pumping 800,000 bpd, just above the 500,000 bpd needed for the internal market.
The resumption of Iraqi exports is a major factor that OPEC will need to consider when it meets in Qatar on June 11.
Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service
<a href=www.foodproductiondaily.com>foodproductiondaily.com
Strong 1Q for Krones, but future growth expected to slow
27/05/03 - Krones, the German equipment provider, has said that since launching its bottle pockets in 1992 it has produced a record number of ten million.
Krones, which is based in Neutraubling, has been manufacturing the bottle pockets for its bottle washers in-house. During the eleven years of production, the main plant has so far produced ten million pockets, providing the hearts to hundreds of machines.
The combination of a steel carrier with steel-sheet pockets featuring a bottle-friendly plastic nose has proved to be the best material variant. Krones claims that this provides several advantages. These include the fact that the heat (and thus energy) entrainment is lower by a factor of three for steel compared with plastic. This fact in turn helps to ensure that the bottle carriers, despite their sturdy construction, make a significant contribution to the energy savings of the machine as a whole.
Smooth surfaces
During the 11 years of production Krones’ Development Department has also cast a critical eye over the pockets’ surfaces. Firstly, the total surface area has been reduced, and secondly it’s been made smoother, with maximised homogeneity for the connection between the sheet-metal body and the plastic nose. This design has reduced to a minimum the liquid entrainment of water and caustic during the washing process.
Quality control of the finished pockets is a crucial factor. The fully automated high-precision in-house manufacturing process includes 100 percent checking of dimensional accuracy.
The importance of accurate machining for the pockets is evidenced by the amount of bottle pockets incorporated in a single washer. One of the biggest machines built so far was installed last year by the Polar Brewery in Venezuela. The equipment meant that 73,000 bottle pockets were fitted - each one to a maximised standard of quality.
Al-Qaeda's stated aim of focusing operations on hard economic targets allied to a rise in incidents of energy terrorism in regions where there has been a growth in Islamist groups indicates that the risk of attacks on energy sector infrastructure has increased significantly in recent months.
In February 2003 the internet site arabforum.net - allegedly popular among Al-Qaeda supporters - published a call to the mujahideen of all Arab and Muslim countries in which the West has military bases or are involved in the energy industry to rise against these interests in the name of the Muslim Ummah.
In light of the recent attacks on the petroleum supply chain, such as the bombing of the French-flagged supertanker Limburg off the coast of Yemen in October 2002, and the rising vulnerability of Saudi Arabia to acts of terrorism - as illustrated by the Riyadh bombings on 12 May - it appears that this call to target the oil industry is more than mere rhetoric.
Given rising global, and particularly Western, dependence on oil and natural gas resources, such a trend could bring significant economic disruption. With European and US dependence on oil imports likely to grow to more than 70% and 60% by 2010 and 2020 respectively, the security of African and Middle Eastern reserves will become increasingly important, but the very knowledge of Western dependence on these reserves makes attacks more likely. Even alternative sources currently under development, such as those in the Caspian Sea, have proven vulnerable to terrorism.
Characteristics of energy terrorism
The oil and gas industry is not a new target for terrorists. On the contrary, terrorist groups have always been aware of the economic and political benefits of attacking these strategic resources. In addition to contributing to economic instability, the energy industry has been targeted as a symbol of resistance to national governments, and as a means of placing pressure on foreign powers and multinational corporations with a strategic interest in oil and gas producing regions. Furthermore, terrorist groups have commonly targeted oil and gas pipelines as a source of financing; or as a way to increase their own influence among communities they seek to control.
Although energy terrorism does not elicit the same level of attention as the spectre of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear terrorism, the economic implications of this terrorist strategy are potentially enormous. With a plethora of targets, including depots, gas stations, personnel, pipelines, production plants, tankers, terminals and refineries, the energy infrastructure is intrinsically vulnerable, and the knock-on effects of disruptions in production or distribution can have severe and immediate effects on economies, as was seen in the blockade of petroleum distribution in the UK in 2001 and during the strike in Venezuela at the end of 2002.
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