Venezuelan oil output stalls at 1 mln bpd-strikers

www.forbes.com Reuters, 01.30.03, 8:21 AM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Striking Venezuelan oil workers said a recovery in oil output stalled on Thursday around 1 million barrels per day (bpd), or a third of pre-strike levels, while the government said it had risen to 1.4 million. The two sides are locked in a bitter battle for power over the world's fifth largest oil exporter, and have diverging estimates of activity levels at the country's oilfields, refineries and export terminals. Striking employees of state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) said in a daily report that output stood at 1.055 million bpd on Thursday, almost unchanged since Tuesday when it first topped the million mark. Energy and Mines Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Wednesday night that it had risen to 1.427 million bpd, up from the 1.320 million bpd reported by Chavez Sunday. This compared with pre-strike levels of 3.1 million bpd in November. "We are in a process of constantly increasing our oil production," Ramirez said on Wednesday night. Ramirez put the current level of exports at 544,000 bpd. "We have a constant flow of exports which is important for the country's foreign currency income," he added. The government has fired more than 5,000 PDVSA employees and has been using troops and replacement crews to try to break the strike. It has consistently been providing higher output estimates than the opposition. But both sides report a marked recovery in production since it hit a low of 150,000 bpd in December.