Venezuela PdVSA Fiscal Contribution -75% 1st Quarter '03 - Paper

sg.biz.yahoo.com Thursday February 27, 11:33 PM

CARACAS -(Dow Jones)- The fiscal contribution of Venezuela's state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela to the state dropped by 75% during the first quarter this year as a result of the strike at the oil behemoth, local paper El Universal reported Thursday.

The loss represents about 936 million bolivars (1$VEB1598) that under normal circumstances would have been given to the state in royalties, the head of the Finance Commission at the National Assembly was quoted as saying. "We've never witnessed a drop of this magnitude before," Rodrigo Cabezas said. Cabezas is a member of the ruling government party. He couldn't be reached for additional comment.

A nationwide strike was joined by the vast majority of PdVSA employees in December last year and crippled oil production and exports. Only during the past few weeks has the oil sector shown signs of recovery. Production is seen at somewhere between 1.5 and 2 million barrels per day while oil exports are hovering at 1.2 to 1.5 million b/d. Venezuela's pre-strike production level was 3 million b/d.

Oil revenue account for 30% of GDP, half of government revenue and 80% of exports revenue. PdVSA is now trying to keep investment plans up by tapping additional money from the Macro Economic Stabilization Fund, or FIEM. The company already withdrew $318 million last week out of the total $1.1 billion it plans to take out of the Fund.

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