Chavez: Oil Production Up

www.zwire.com By:HAROLD OLMOS, Associated Press Writer January 26, 2003

Venezuelan leader says oil production boosted to 1.32 million barrels daily PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil - Strike-paralyzed Venezuela is now managing to produce 1.32 million barrels of oil per day, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Sunday.

Chavez, who is in Porto Alegre to participate in the World Social Forum, told reporters Venezuela should manage to boost production to 2.7 million barrels within a month. He said that amount is what OPEC has determined the country should produce.

The 56-day-old strike aimed at ousting Chavez has badly hurt the oil industry, which provides half of the government's income and a third of Venezuela's gross domestic product.

But production in the world's fifth largest oil exporter has been slowly reviving.

The government claims most of the 40,000 employees at the state oil monopoly, Petrels de Venezuela SA., have abandoned the strike and previously said output had reached 1 million barrels per day.

Striking executives put the figure at 855,000 and deny most employees are back to work. Output was 3 million barrels a day before the strike. It reached a low of less than 200,000 last month.