Oil chief admits damage from strike, but says he will prevail

December 26 2002

Venezuela's chief oil official, Ali Rodriguez, has said he will begin a series of sweeping changes - including worker lay-offs and the hiring of foreign specialists - in response to the general strike that has battered the state-owned oil company for most of the month.

Mr Rodriguez, president of the national oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, acknowledged to American reporters that the strike, aimed at pressuring President Hugo Chavez to resign and call new elections, had brought the company close to collapse. Crude exports have plummeted, he said, from more than 2.5million barrels a day to fewer than 2million barrels this month, and refineries, wells and tankers were all but unmanned and inoperable.

The crisis in Venezuela has pushed crude oil prices to more than US$30 a barrel.

However, Mr Rodriguez contended that the strike organisers had failed. He said the Government, which has had the support of the armed forces during the conflict, had begun to regain control of Petroleos de Venezuela and operations would quickly return to normal.

When asked about the queues of cars that stretch for kilometres outside most petrol stations, Mr Rodriguez, who was appointed by Mr Chavez, acknowledged that the country had come close to chaos. He blamed strike leaders and said they would be prosecuted for conspiring to overthrow the Government.    advertisement       advertisement

Openly beleaguered, Mr Rodriguez offered a stark contrast to the demeanour of Mr Chavez, who routinely issues upbeat reports on the effects of the strike.

Mr Rodriguez, who once participated in guerilla movements and later went on to become the president of OPEC, saved his most bitter remarks for the oil executives he says are leading the strike and trying, in his eyes, to use oil to take over the country.

He said he had suspended several oil executives.

Striking oil workers said on Tuesday that he had fired 90 managers. Mr Rodriguez acknowledged that some people had been fired, but declined to provide details.

He also said the Government was preparing to sue some of the strike leaders over damage done to the oil company and, in some cases, pursue criminal prosecutions.

"In Venezuela, a group of managers, taking advantage of their positions, decided to use Venezuelan oil as a political weapon to impose their will on the state and on society," Mr Rodriguez said.

Mr Rodriguez's comments, combined with recent oil tanker departures and petrol deliveries, were the first concrete signs that the Government had succeeded in beating back the immediate threat of economic or political collapse.

Although most service stations have closed and the most important oil fields and refineries are severely crippled, Mr Rodriguez pledged that Venezuelans would have fresh supplies by next week. He also promised Venezuela's international clients that exports would resume normal levels by next month.

"I'm talking about the exports of crude," he said. "It will take time to restart the wells and to equip the plants."

Privately, supporters of the strike said they had underestimated Mr Chavez's ability to keep gas and oil flowing, even though at critically low levels, for this long. Political analysts said the conflict between Mr Chavez and his opponents had reached a kind of stalemate.

However, opposition leaders pledged to keep up the strike. The New York Times, Los Angeles Times