Petroleos de Venezuela to Boost Output, Houston Chronicle Says

By Nadja Rogoszynski

Caracas, May 6 (<a href=quote.bloomberg.com>Bloomberg) -- Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the state oil company, plans to boost production by about 2 million barrels a day by 2008, the Houston Chronicle said, citing Chief Executive Ali Rodriguez at a conference in Houston.

Oil production in Venezuela, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' third-largest producer, is now 3.2 million barrels a day, the paper said, citing Rodriguez. This number includes discoveries, such as a field south of Lake Maracaibo that could hold as much as 1 billion barrels, according to Rodriguez.

Petroleos de Venezuela is in the midst of a five-year plan intended to boost its production capacity to 5.1 million barrels a day, the Houston Chronicle said, citing Rodriguez.

Venezuela's oil exports were slashed when nationwide strikes began on Dec. 2, aimed to forcing President Hugo Chavez from office. Petroleos de Venezuela fired more than half of its pre- strike employees of 33,000 during the work stoppage.

(Houston Chronicle 5-6) Last Updated: May 6, 2003 20:18 EDT