Venezuela oil officials accuse strikers of sabotage

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VIENNA - Venezuelan oil officials said on Sunday that sabotage at oilfields, refineries and computer systems was causing pollution and preventing a swift recovery in the industry, crippled by a six-week-old strike.

Arriving at an emergency OPEC meeting in Vienna called to deal with the extended Venezuelan stoppage, state oil company chief Ali Rodriguez said the South American country was aiming to supply its minimum supply obligations by the end of January.

Striking executives at Petroleos de Venezuela, many of whom have now been sacked by Rodriguez, say incompetence by replacement workers is to blame for the accidents.

"There has been electronic sabotage and sabotage on valves, because the (strike) campaign has been aimed at causing accidents, and we have to take anti-sabotage measures to start up safely," he told reporters on arrival in the Austrian capital.

Rodriguez, a former secretary-general of OPEC, said the country still aimed to meet its minimum contractual supply obligations by the end of January, but declined to provide any figures on output in the world's fifth largest exporter. Venezuela previously supplied 13 percent of U.S. oil imports.

A full recovery in ouput by the end of February, a previous target, would not be achieved because of the extensive sabotage, he said.

Striking oil company executives, demanding the government's resignation, said crude flows dropped below half a million barrels per day last week, from more than three million in November.

The country's main oil refineries have ground to a virtual halt, export terminals have closed or drastically reduced loadings and long lines have formed at gasoline stations, while Venezuela resorts to importing fuel.

"Internal market distribution is being normalised, we have managed to free up port operations and we have drawn down stocks whose build-up had blocked production," Rodriguez said.

"This has helped a sustained rise in output, so this month we should achieve our objectives," he said without providing details.

"Our objective is to reestablish basic production this month and restart the refineries to satisfy the internal market because we are importing gasoline at prices far above what we sell it at, which is creating losses for the company," Rodriguez said.

In Lake Maracaibo, where Venezuela pumps about half its crude oil, Rodriguez blamed a recent oil spill on sabotage. In the country's largest refinery, Amuay-Cardon, he said striking workers had shut the plant incorrectly, leaving deposits of asphalt and sulphur in some units.

In the smaller El Palito refinery, Rodriguez said a fire last week was caused by a faulty seal which has now been corrected and output there was restarting.

Asked whether oil production would be fully restored by the end of February, Rodriguez said, "Not totally because damage has been very great and we don't know if there has been sabotage in some wells, so we have to be very careful."

Story Date: 14/1/2003