Oil Optimism in Venezuela

www.newsday.com The Associated Press February 18, 2003 Oil output could reach 2.8 million barrels a day within a month, when restrictions on sending tankers to Venezuelan ports are lifted, the head of Venezuela's state-run oil company said yesterday. Foreign shippers were warned against loading in Venezuelan ports during a two-month strike against President Hugo Chávez. The work stoppage ended on Feb. 3 in all sectors except the all-important oil industry. Some major companies in the shipping and oil industry, however, have decided to return to Venezuela. Exxon Mobil Corp. plans to resume loading this week while refiner Valero Energy Corp. has chartered a tanker to load 2 million barrels of crude. Once exports pick up, oil output could jump to 2.8 million barrels per day - Venezuela's quota as set by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries - by mid-March, said Ali Rodriguez, president of Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., or PDVSA.