Venezuela plans oil output increase in January

It expects to produce 2/3 of pre-strike volume by then December 30, 2002 - Bloomberg, AFP CARACAS

VENEZUELA will increase oil output by the end of January to two-thirds the amount the world's fifth-largest supplier was producing before a national strike began earlier this month, state oil company president Ali Rodriguez said.

Exports have dropped to about 11 per cent of pre-strike levels with Venezuela now producing between 600,000 and 700,000 barrels a day, he said at a press conference. That is more than quadruple the output that strikers estimate.

Output will rise to 800,000 barrels a day next week and two million by the end of next month, he said.

The figures contradict previous, more optimistic forecasts made by President Hugo Chavez's government, all of which have drawn scepticism from industry analysts who say it will take several months to restart refineries and production plants. The strike in Venezuela, which had been supplying about 9 per cent of oil used in the US, has pushed up the price of crude to two-year highs and forced Venezuela to import petrol to alleviate fuel shortages.

'The first step to ending the strike is to normalise the situation,' said Mr Rodriguez, who heads Petroleos de Venezuela SA.

Only one of three refineries in the country is operating - the plant at Puerto La Cruz, he said. That refinery is producing 60,000 barrels a day of petrol and an unspecified amount of other products, compared with 130,000 barrels a day before the strike.

Exports since the strike began Dec 2 have totalled about 6.2 million barrels of oil, compared with the 57.6 million barrels the country normally would have shipped, said Mr Rodriguez.

Mr Chavez has rejected demands that he resign or call elections and has said the crippling strike was not only doomed but had already failed.