Venezuela Jan Oil Exports At 406,00 Billion/D - Ex-PdVSA Staff

sg.biz.yahoo.com Tuesday February 4, 3:38 AM (MORE) Dow Jones Newswires 02-03-03 1422ET

Venezuela Jan Oil Exports At 406,00 Billion/D - Ex-PdVSA Staff -2

CARACAS -(Dow Jones)- Venezuela's crude oil output has risen to 1.22 million barrels per day (b/d) Monday, compared with around 1.10 million b/d over the weekend, dissident staff of state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela (E.PVZ) said in their daily report.

The biggest share of the production is in the eastern part of the country where 852,000 b/d is being produced. Another 200,000 b/d on top of the current 852,000 b/d could be produced in the east in the coming weeks, dissident PdVSA staff have said.

Production in the west stood at 280,000 b/d, while in the southern region 90,000 b/d were being produced, down from 92,000 the previous week.

According to dissident staff, the average of January oil exports stood at only 406,00 b/d of which 50,000 b/d was shipped to Cuba. Venezuela has a deal with Cuba under which it delivers crude and products under preferential financial terms. Various industry sources said Monday current oil exports stand at around 500,000 (b/d) while it puts away another 300,000 b/d at several storage facilities in the Caribbean.

Estimates about Venezuela's oil production remain all over the charts:

Venezuela's Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez was quoted as saying in a newspaper interview over the weekend that exports stood at around 550,000 b/d. On Sunday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said production was at 1.78 million b/d and that he expected production to exceed 2 million b/d this week when four extra-heavy crude projects in the Orinoco belt are set to being operating.

Venezuela is in its tenth week of a nationwide strike that has hampered oil production and exports. The strike is aimed at forcing President Hugo Chavez to resign. Chavez has refused to step down and has vowed to revamp PdVSA.

Refining activities remained mostly unchanged. One of the crude units of the El Palito refinery, which has a capacity of 120,000 b/d, is producing around 110,000 b/d, although full operations haven't been restored yet, dissident PdVSA staff have said. The Paraguana refinery complex which has a capacity of 940,000 b/d is producing around 80,000 b/d. The 200,000 b/d Puerto La Cruz refinery is operating at 80% of its capacity, according to dissident staff.

-By Fred Pals, Dow Jones Newswires; 58 212 564 1339; fred.palsdowjones.com