Thursday, June 5, 2003 06:41 PM ET CARACAS -(<a href=www.quicken.com>Dow Jones)- Oil ministers of Venezuela, Mexico and Saudi Arabia will gather Friday in Madrid to discuss current world oil markets and cooperation of non-OPEC oil producing nations, a spokeswoman of the Oil Ministry said Thursday.

Venezuela's Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez was earlier Thursday quoted as saying he would meet his Saudi Arabian counterpart Ali Naimi and Mexico's Ernesto Martens in the Spanish capital Monday, June 9. "The meeting is Friday afternoon, " the spokeswoman said, adding the three would start their meeting at 1800 local time.

The spokeswoman added Ramirez will travel to Norway on Monday to meet his Norwegian counterpart. Ramirez is set to arrive in Doha in Tuesday afternoon.

Oil ministers from the three countries have met on a regular basis during the past few years in an effort to coordinate oil output policy. Mexico, a major non-OPEC member, has been cooperating with OPEC.

The meeting of the three oil ministers comes just before the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, meets in Doha, Qatar, June 11. OPEC has to decide whether to curb production in an effort to anticipate the return of Iraqi oil exports.

OPEC in April decided to hike the ceiling to 25.4 million barrels a day while at the same time, it pledged to remove 2 million b/d from the market.

By Fred Pals, Dow Jones Newswires; 58414-2887461; fred.pals@dowjones.com

President Chávez's foes made all they could to impede, at least for one hour, the approval of a reform to the Parliament's internal regulations

ELVIA GÓMEZ EL UNIVERSAL

"There will be no peace in the National Assembly as the ruling party MVR tries to use the Parliament as it wishes," said representative Enrique Márquez (opposition party LCR) still agitated after the clash in the Congress that cost him his glasses.

In fact, a minority group from the opposition seemed unwilling to give in to their efforts to avoid what they considered an abuse by pro-government parliamentarians. However, most of the opposition congressmen warned that the great news of the week -that pro-government factions lacked the necessary votes to impose their will, according to the opposition- was not evident because of the chaos at the National Assembly.

Congressman Julio Borges (opposition party Primero Justicia) said that Wednesday's incident was "a point of inflection" and that opposition groups were forced to react as they did. He warned the situation was the prelude of a government plan to shut down the Parliament.

Henry Ramos Allup (opposition party AD) rejected the call hastily made by the Parliament president, Captain Francisco Ameliach (R), to hold a session on Friday at El Calvario, an allegedly pro-Chavist area of Caracas.

Even though the rules governing the Parliament provide for the possibility to hold sessions out of the official premises, holding such a session must be decided by the Parliament, which was not the case yesterday. Besides, the congressman said, pro-government groups seek to expose their opponents to the attacks of "political criminals." He also said that the opposition would not accept the ruling party's efforts to continue controlling the Parliament on the ground of its scanty advantage.

According to assemblyman Felipe Mujica (MAS), the main victim of incidents at the lawmaking body is democracy. He regretted that the Parliament is now ruled by intolerance.

Leopoldo Martínez (Construyendo País) set clear that the ruling party could not introduce any reform to the Parliament internal regulations because two appeals against previous changes were filed before the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) by opposition congressmen. He explained that as the court had made no decision on the appeals, only the TSJ could rule on the issue.

The reform to the internal regulations of the National Assembly makes it possible to create regular committees without quorum and to declare valid decisions made without the minimum number of votes previously required. The reform also intends to eliminate the Legislative Committee -in charge of two controversial draft bills, the Radio and Television Responsibility Law and a reform to the Supreme Court of Justice Law, both promoted by the Executive Power. The government does not have a majority in this committee.

According to opposition leaders, the reform is a violation of the pact reached at the Negotiation and Agreement Table and recently signed by the parties. "We are aware of the need for a consolidation of the pluralism provided for in the Constitution. Venezuela needs the participation of all the sectors to continue its path in peace and democracy, so that each and everyone may express his or her ideas, adopt his or her respective position, and make decisions choosing among the different political options that exist," states article 5 of the agreement reached at the Negotiation Table.

Posted on Thu, Jun. 05, 2003 The News Sentinel-Associated Press

NEW YORK - Crude oil and petroleum products futures rallied Thursday as traders covered short positions established following bearish inventory figures released a day earlier.

Wednesday's sell-off came after government and industry data showed across-the-board builds in U.S. petroleum inventories for the week ended May 30.

Crude oil stocks rose by 2.8 million barrels to 289 million barrels, gasoline inventories grew by 2.3 million barrels to 207.3 million barrels, and distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, rose by a larger-than-expected 3 million barrels to 104.5 million barrels, the Energy Department reported.

But despite the builds, inventories remain below year ago levels, just as the high-demand U.S. summer driving season gets under way. Low inventories leave the market exposed to price spikes.

"When you think about it, supplies are still very tight," said Phil Flynn, a trader and analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago.

At the New York Mercantile Exchange, nearby July crude oil futures rose 69 cents to close at $30.74 a barrel.

At London's International Petroleum Exchange, July North Sea Brent futures ended the session with a gain of 84 cents at $27.65 a barrel.

July heating oil futures jumped 2.01 cents to 77.23 cents a gallon, while July gasoline futures climbed 2.09 cents to settle at 88.52 cents a gallon.

Natural gas for July delivery rose 14.6 cents to settle at $6.521 per 1,000 cubic feet.

A slew of news reports helped boost the rally, traders and analysts said.

As oil prices were rallying, Venezuela's state news agency reported that the oil ministers of Venezuela, Mexico and Saudi Arabia will meet Monday to discuss cooperation between OPEC and non-OPEC oil producing nations.

Venezuela's oil minister Rafael Ramirez plans to meet his Saudi counterpart Ali Naimi and Mexico's oil minister Ernesto Martens in Madrid, Spain. Ramirez will later meet with the oil minister of Norway, another key non-OPEC oil producer.

"This is a very important meeting because it allows us to study the world oil markets and the oil prices," Ramirez said.

Venezuela and Saudi Arabia belong to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries; Mexico does not. The three countries often meet to coordinate policy ahead of OPEC meetings.

Ramirez also said he would meet with Norwegian officials before the OPEC conference but he did not give a date. Norway, another independent producer, also often collaborates with OPEC's policies.

The meeting of the three oil ministers comes just before the meeting in Doha, Qatar, June 11.

OPEC in April decided to hike the ceiling to 25.4 million barrels a day while at the same time, it pledged to remove 2 million barrels a day from the market.

OPEC officials haven't said whether they intend another round of production cuts, and talk in the market is mostly that the cartel won't reduce output.

Analysts say that the recent price spike has mitigated the need for another OPEC output cut.

Separately, a fire at a Northern Natural Gas Co. natural gas pipeline early Thursday morning destroyed one of two buildings housing a compressor station in an isolated part of far West Texas, officials said Thursday.

The news helped boost natural gas and heating oil futures at the Nymex, traders said.

<a href=www.nzherald.co.nz>The New Zeland Herald 06.06.2003 8.30am

NEW YORK - Oil prices rose above US$30 a barrel on Thursday (New York time) as Opec producers Saudi Arabia and Venezuela prepared to seek assurances from non-member Mexico that it would follow the cartel in any move to tighten supply.

A meeting on Friday in Madrid between Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi and his counterparts, Venezuela's Rafael Ramirez and Mexico's Ernesto Martens, comes just days before next Wednesday's Opec meeting in Qatar to decide third-quarter cartel production.

The three countries were the architects of drastic oil output curbs in 1998 and 1999 which laid the groundwork for a five-year price boom, and are regrouping to prepare the ground for the resumption of Iraq's oil exports.

US crude futures jumped 69 cents to US$30.74 a barrel, nearing Wednesday's six-week peak of US$31. In London, benchmark Brent crude was 63 cents higher at US$27.44 a barrel.

"They aren't meeting to ask the Mexicans to pump more oil. So the question will be if they get Mexico to agree to cut," said a New York trader.

Iraq earlier on Thursday announced it was tendering to sell 10 million barrels of crude stored at export terminals, its first oil sales since the US-led invasion in mid-March.

Baghdad is aiming for some 1.5 million bpd of production by the end of this month, over half of that set for export, although continued looting in the southern region is hampering efforts to restart supplies, an official there said Wednesday.

"We believe that the market will continue to be surprised at the slowness of output recovery in Iraq and by the length of time before the security situation allows for a stabilisation of Iraqi capacity," said Paul Horsnell, an analyst with J.P. Morgan.

A full recovery to its previous over two million bpd exports -- some four per cent of globally traded oil -- appears distant.

Some analysts believe Opec could opt to postpone any further cut in supplies as prices remain above its US$25 a barrel target, analysts say.

"Prices being where they are, we don't think they will do anything," said Leo Drollas at London's Centre for Global Energy Studies.

On Wednesday, Indonesian Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said no cut was necessary as long as prices stayed within the group's US$22-US$28 price band. The Opec basket price stood at US$26.72 on Wednesday.

Oil markets have now recovered most of their losses following US government data showing an unexpected rise in crude and petrol supplies on Wednesday, somewhat easing concerns of a potential summer supply crunch.

Crude oil stocks jumped 2.8 million barrels in the week to May 30 while petrol supplies rose 2.3 million barrels, the Department of Energy's statistical arm said.

Crude supplies are still down 11 per cent against last year's levels, while petrol is down five per cent.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Thursday, June 05, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Venezuelan Confederation of Trade Unions (CTV) general secretary, Manuel Cova denies that the opposition is holding back on appointing delegates to the liaison committee set up to follow through last week's negotiation agreement between government and opposition. 

"It's easier for the government side because it is President Chavez Frias who decides ... the opposition is slower as is customary in a democracy because we sit down and discuss things ... we consult before deciding."

Cova has confirmed that self-exile CTV president, Carlos Ortega will accompany him at the International Labor Organization (ILO) as Venezuelan representative, along with CTV legal adviser, Jesus Urbieta, currently president of the ILO Administration Council ... the three men have been accredited by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) ... only Cova is currently living in Venezuela.

The main topic the CTV will take to the ILO general assembly will be the fate of 20,000 Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) employees, who were dismissed for joining the national stoppage.