Venezuela To Ship 360,000Bbls Unleaded Gasoline To US Wed

Dow Jones Tuesday April 1, 5:27 AM

CARACAS (Dow Jones)--A shipment of 360,000 barrels of unleaded gasoline destined for the U.S. is expected to leave Venezuela's Paraguana peninsula Wednesday, a refinery manager of state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela SA (E.PVZ) said Monday.

"The Nicos tanker has just docked, we can now start loading the cargo," plant manager Humberto Reyes said. The shipment should leave Wednesday, Reyes added. It would be the first gasoline shipment destined for export from the 940,000 barrels per day (b/d) Paraguana refinery complex since a strike hit PdVSA from December 2002 until February 2003.

The stoppage curtailed exports of crude and refined products. Only in the last several weeks have production and refining operations increased. President Hugo Chavez said Sunday refining runs stand at more than one million b/d. Total domestic refining capacity stands around 1.3 million b/d.

Reyes further added that the plant is currently restarting its coking unit. "We expect the entire complex to run at normal capacity between April 20 and April 22," Reyes said.

About 35,000 employees walked off their jobs in early December, crippling oil production and exports. Production is estimated at somewhere between 2.4 million and 2.8 million barrels per day by secondary sources, while oil exports are seen slightly above 2 million b/d. Venezuela's pre-strike production level was 3 million b/d.

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