ChevronTexaco To Load Crude In Western Venezuela - PdVSA

sg.biz.yahoo.com Wednesday February 26, 4:19 AM

CARACAS -(Dow Jones)- U.S. oil giant ChevronTexaco Corp. (CVX) will load a tanker with 270,000 barrels of crude at the port of Bajo Grande in western Venezuela in the coming days, state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela said Tuesday in a press release.

The Shino Ussa tanker will arrive shortly at the Bajo Grande port to load 270,000 barrels of Boscan crude, the press release said. It would be the first significant shipment by a major foreign oil company in the western part of the region. In the eastern part, shipping operations have almost returned to normal.

"Various international clients are going to restart their loading procedures in the west," Arnoldo Luzardo was quoted as saying. Luzardo is general manager in the area.

Earlier Tuesday, the nation's Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said a force majeure on the production and exports of some light crudes of Venezuela's state-owned oil monopoly, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PdVSA (E.PVZ), has been lifted. The three different types of crude are being produced in the eastern region.

The force majeure was declared three days after a nationwide general strike started Dec. 2, an action to which 35,000 PdVSA employees - the vast majority of the company's total workforce - adhered. It temporarily released the company and its clients from contractual obligations.

A force majeure on liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG, has also been lifted, Ramirez added. It remains unclear when the force majeure can be fully lifted.

Crude production and exports in western Venezuela will continue under the force majeure clause. In western Venezuela, crude production is more difficult as added pressure by gas or water is needed to extract the crude from mostly mature fields. That requires additional investment and is much more labor intensive.

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