Venezuela PdVSA Boss, Oil Min To Travel To US Tuesday

sg.biz.yahoo.com Wednesday February 26, 12:01 AM

CARACAS (Dow Jones)--Venezuela's Oil Minister and the company president of state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela SA (E.PVZ) are due to travel to Washington Tuesday and are likely to meet U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham Wednesday, a spokesman of state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela said Tuesday.

Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez and PdVSA President Ali Rodriguez want to make clear to the U.S. government that the oil sector is returning to normal and that the country can play a role if an oil supply shortage were to occur due to a war between the U.S. and Iraq, the spokesman added.

ADVERTISEMENTA definite meeting with Abraham for Wednesday hasn't been set yet, the spokesman said. An official at the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington said the Venezuelan ambassador Bernardo Alvarez is still working on the final agenda.

Venezuela's oil industry is slowly recovering from a devastating oil strike that crippled the company and resulted in a loss in revenue of around $4 billion. A nationwide strike, which started Dec. 2, was aimed at forcing the resignation of President Hugo Chavez. About 35,000 oil workers joined the strike.

Under normal circumstances, Venezuela is among the top four suppliers of crude oil and refined products to the U.S.

Although oil production and exports have been creeping up, they are about 50% of the pre-strike production level of around 3 million barrels per day.

As of Tuesday, the government has dismissed 15,636 workers since the strike began.

By Fred Pals, Dow Jones Newswires; 58212-5641339; fred.pals@dowjones.com