Venezuela oil exports up to 50% mark

newsobserver.com Friday, February 28, 2003 12:00AM EST The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Venezuela's energy minister gave an optimistic forecast Thursday for resumption of oil shipments to the United States, saying the country was expected to increase production to 2.4 million barrels within a few weeks. Rafael Ramirez, Venezuela's minister in charge of energy and mines, told a conference that oil production, at a virtual standstill in January, recovered dramatically in February.

Ramirez briefed Energy Department officials and said they were "pleasantly surprised by our recovery."

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham told a Senate hearing Wednesday that while the crisis in Venezuela appeared to be ending, it could take 60 to 90 days before oil imports from the South American country would get back to normal.

Energy Department spokeswoman Jeanne Lopatto declined to characterize the meeting. "We appreciated their sharing the information with us," she said.

Ramirez estimated that Venezuela was exporting about 1.5 million barrels a day, about half its average daily export last year. He also said gasoline exports from Venezuelan refineries were likely to resume in mid-March.

The Venezuelan government's past assessments on the recovery of the country's oil industry have been disputed by critics, who have said they are overly optimistic.

Political turmoil and strikes beginning in December paralyzed the industry and brought Venezuela's oil exports to a halt.

The shutoff of Venezuelan supplies -- along with nervousness about a possible war with Iraq -- have caused crude oil prices, as well as the cost of gasoline and heating oil, to soar.

The world's fifth-largest oil producer, Venezuela is a major source of oil for the United States, accounting for about 14 percent of U.S. oil imports last year, or about 1.3 million barrels of crude and refined gasoline.

During a meeting Thursday at Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington group specializing in Western Hemisphere affairs, Ramirez said oil shipments in the eastern part of Venezuela have nearly gotten back to normal in recent weeks. He said ExxonMobil and Valero Energy are inspecting shipping facilities in anticipation of resuming shipments into the United States.

Ramirez said his government expects oil production to reach the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' quota soon.

He said production has risen from 150,000 barrels a day in early January to just over 2 million barrels a day. He said production is expected to reach 2.9 million barrels a day by the end of March.