Venezuela minister says will beat oil sales block

Reuters, 01.06.03, 12:10 PM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela's government said it was making progress on Monday in breaking an oil export "blockade" caused by a 36-day strike by foes of President Hugo Chavez.

"In fact, there was (a blockade). What we are doing is unblocking it," Venezuelan oil minister Rafael Ramirez said in a Monday morning television interview.

Ramirez said that maritime companies that joined the strike and hindered ship loadings would be replaced in efforts to boost oil sales that account for half of government revenues.

International shipments last week by the world's No. 5 crude exporter were flat with the previous week at 500,000 barrels per day (bpd), according to calculations made by Reuters using data from shippers and state oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). The OPEC nation had exported nearly 2.7 million bpd of crude and products in November, and the disruption in Venezuela, which normally provides over 13 percent of U.S. daily imports, sent oil prices near two-year highs over $33 a barrel last week.

Chavez said in a late Sunday national television address that the government was winning the battle for PDVSA. Rebel PDVSA employees say oil output has been cut to less than 200,000 bpd from 3.1 million bpd, while the government said it is at 600,000 bpd and will double in the next week.

"As of today, exports rose to 1.5 million bpd," the Populist leader said. Independent shippers reported that Venezuela loaded just over 1.3 million barrels of crude on Sunday for export in three tankers.

Of the crude loaded, 350,000 barrels were dispatched to the nearby island of Bonaire, while the German Sun carrying 450,000 barrels of crude sailed for the United States, shippers said. The PDVSA-owned Hero, laden with 520,000 barrels of crude for Lake Charles in the United States, was expected to depart Monday morning.

Only ships chartered by PDVSA and U.S. refining affiliate Citgo have loaded, as foreign firms have hesitated to have vessels attended by uncertified replacement crews hired by the government.

The government has said it will use the strike to clean up PDVSA and hire workers aligned with the interests of the state. Striking PDVSA employees have said they will not return to work until Chavez is out of office or until early elections are called, and that replacement workers will not be able to restart the industry. Oil minister Ramirez said that oil executives fired during the work stoppage would not be rehired.