Oil crisis rolls on

Venezuela output well below normal BY PHIL GUNSON Special to The Miami Herald

The Venezuelan oil industry remains in a critical condition, despite claims by the government of President Hugo Chávez that what it calls ''sabotage'' by striking managers is under control and that crude oil and refined products for both the domestic and foreign markets will soon be flowing normally.

In a Christmas Eve interview with foreign correspondents, Alí Rodríguez, chairman of the state oil corporation PdVSA, described as ''titanic'' efforts to resume normal operations. But Juan Fernández, leader of the dissident managers, dismissed those attempts as ''merely [applying] hot towels'' to the crisis.

The giant Amuay-Cardon refinery complex, for instance, with its 940,000-barrel daily capacity, remains shut down. Only the Puerto La Cruz refinery, operating at well below 50 percent capacity, is in a position to produce gasoline.

The tanker Pilin León, whose striking crew held out at anchor for 17 days before being replaced by officers the merchant navy insists are unqualified, loaded 230,000 barrels of gasoline and 50,000 of diesel at Cardon on Christmas Day, according to the government.

The fuel is due to be unloaded today at the Carenero terminal, for shipment by pipeline to Caracas. That would represent perhaps two days' worth for Venezuelan consumers.

However, Capt. José Jesús Jiménez of the tanker Paramacay said the Pilin León ``did not fully load . . . [and] the last [gasoline] at Cardon is now gone. The idea now is for the Maritza Sayalero to dock at Amuay and take the little gasoline that remains there.''

The Paramacay, along with four other Venezuelan vessels, remains at anchor near Amuay-Cardon. Most of the PDV-Marina fleet remains paralyzed, while exports are running at below 10 percent of normal.

''They haven't bothered us since Dec. 9,'' Jiménez said. ''At the beginning, they cut off our food. Then they cut off the water.'' But supplies were later restored, he said. ``I think they're afraid of trying anything with us because of the danger.''

The Paramacay, which is part-loaded with isobutane -- a fuel additive -- is even more dangerous than a tanker loaded with gasoline, the captain said.

Other crews, however, have reported increasing levels of harassment, including what the merchant navy union calls physical and psychological torture. ''They have even taken officers out onto the deck in their underwear and put 9mm pistols to their heads,'' Capt. José Luis Blandín, the union president, told a press conference Thursday.

Three captains have reportedly been hospitalized with stress-related conditions.

Today, the union is to ask the supreme court to intervene to stop what it calls human rights violations. It is asking for the people of Caracas to demonstrate outside the court in support of the plea.

Meanwhile, the world's fifth-biggest oil exporter is beginning to import gasoline. The tanker Amazon Explorer, with 520,000 barrels of unleaded gas, is on its way from Brazil as part of a controversial agreement between Chávez and the incoming government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Without a settlement to the strike, however, experts doubt that even a semblance of normality can be attained.

In the city of Mérida, one of the worst-hit, gas lines are now measured in days rather than hours, and places in line are being sold.

''Place number 400, for example, will cost you 25,000 bolivares [about $18],'' said political analyst Alberto Garrido in a phone interview from the Andean city.

''There is no cooking gas, and people are selling firewood in the streets,'' Garrido added.

Jorge Kamkoff, a member of the PdVSA board who resigned over the government's handling of the strike, said the industry could not be normalized ``with all the people they have, nor by bringing in everyone, of all nationalities.''