www.vheadline.com Posted: Tuesday, February 25, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

After declaring force majeure in December which absolved Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) of its contractual obligations to export oil due to unforeseen circumstances, Energy & Mines (MEM) Minister Rafael Ramirez says the company is lifting force majeure on some crudes.

"Some force majeures on some specific crudes have been lifted." However, the minister did not comment on which types of crude were to resume normal export levels.

• Sources quoted by Reuters claim the crudes involved are of the light variety and from the eastern area of Venezuela.

Production levels in the east have been restored much more quickly than those in the west as they are newer and therefore less difficult to return to production.

www.alertnet.org 24 Feb 2003 20:51

(Adds background in paragraphs 9-10)

CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Venezuela has lifted a force majeure for exports of some lighter grades of its crude as the government struggles to restore oil operations in the strike-hit country, energy minister Rafael Ramirez told Reuters on Monday.

"Some force majeures with some specific crudes have been lifted," Ramirez said.

Venezuela, normally the world's No. 5 crude exporter, declared force majeure on oil and product exports during the first week of a strike by foes of President Hugo Chavez. The strike started on Dec. 2.

Force majeure is invoked when a company cannot meet its contractual obligations.

The minister did not specify what type of crude oils were no longer under a force majeure, but a source with state oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) said the lifting of the declaration was for light crudes from the nation's eastern region.

"Its production from the eastern side, crudes like Mesa and Santa Barbara," the PDVSA source told Reuters.

Crude production from the east has been restored to close to prestrike levels, while older oil fields from the west take longer to return.

The OPEC nation, which normally supplies more than 13 percent of U.S. crude imports, had been shipping nearly 2.7 million bpd of oil and products before the stoppage disrupted oil operations. Oil exports provide half of government revenues.

PDVSA has fired more than 12,000 oil employees that joined the strike, and is using replacement workers and the military to help restart the industry. PDVSA President Ali Rodriguez said on Sunday that oil production had been restored to just more than 2 million bpd, and that nearly 500,000 bpd more were to be brought back on this week.

Dissident PDVSA employees have said output has reached just 1.5 million bpd, compared with more than 3.1 million bpd before the strike.

sg.biz.yahoo.com Monday February 24, 9:47 PM

CARACAS (Dow Jones)--A total of 15,636 employees at Venezuela's state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela (E.PVZ) have been fired in the aftermath of a strike which started Dec. 2 last year, a company official said.

"Yes, we have dismissed an additional 1,088 employees in the eastern part of the country," said Mario Socorro, a spokesman of the PdVSA division in east Venezuela. The dismissals now total around 40% of the workforce that was employed before the strike started. However, the total figure varies somewhat. The local daily El Universal maintains the dismissals now stand at 16,036 while PdVSA couldn't provide a definite list.

Some 35,000 oil workers at PdVSA joined a nationwide strike Dec. 2 last year that was aimed at the resignation of President Hugo Chavez. The strike severely crippled exports and production which stood at a level of around 3 million b/d by the end of November.

Crude production at PdVSA currently stands at 2.02 million barrels per day, the company president said Sunday. "We are now at the production level of 2.02 million barrels and by the end of next week it will be 2.5 million barrels per day," Ali Rodriguez said. However, fired staff of PdVSA claim production is much lower and stands at around 1.4 million b/d while exports stand at 1 million b/d. Rodriguez didn't give any new export numbers.

Chavez, discussing production levels at his televised Sunday show "Hello President" said he expects the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, not to have any problems that Venezuela would "progressively put crude stocks on the market that haven't been used," he said, without elaborating further.

Last year, Venezuela exceeded its official output target of 2.5 million b/d by around 400,000 b/d when it drew from crude inventories that are located in the Caribbean. Venezuela's OPEC quota - at least on paper - is 2.819 million b/d.

Venezuela's request comes as the company struggles to go beyond the 2 million b/d production level. After focusing on easy oil fields that don't require much added pressure to get the oil flowing, PdVSA faces difficulties as mature oil fields are more labor and capital intensive and take more time to pump oil. Experts have said they doubt PdVSA would reach 2.5 million b/d any time soon due to a lack of financial and human resources.

However, on Sunday a local newspaper reported PdVSA plans to lift the force majeure on its operations in the coming days as the situation at the company is almost back to normal.

A declaration of force majeure three days after the nationwide strike started Dec. 2 temporarily released the company and its clients from contractual obligations.

-By Fred Pals, Dow Jones Newswires; 58414-2887461; fred.pals@dowjones.com

www.forbes.com Reuters, 02.20.03, 5:50 PM ET

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., Feb 20 (Reuters) - CITGO Petroleum Corp., U.S.-based unit of Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., sold $550 million of eight-year senior notes in the 144a private placement market, said market sources on Thursday.

Credit Suisse First Boston and J.P. Morgan were the lead managers for the sale, the sources said.

BORROWER: CITGO PETROLEUM CORP. AMT $550 MLN COUPON 11.375 PCT MATURITY 2/1/2011 TYPE SR NOTES ISS PRICE 99.380 FIRST PAY DATE 8/1/2003 LAST MOODY'S Ba3 YIELD 11.50 PCT PAY FREQ SEMI-ANNUAL
LAST S&P B-PLUS SPREAD 794 BPS/ NON-CALLABLE 4 YEARS*

            5.00 FEB 2011

*3-YEAR EQUITY CALL FOR 35 PCT AT 111.375

www.vheadline.com Posted: Thursday, February 20, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

El Nacional reporter, Mary Mogollon reports that there are three groups fighting for control inside the “new” Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).  Company president, Ali Rodriguez, who belongs to Patria Para Todos (PPT), is fighting off takeover attempts from the so-called Garibaldi Group led by former PDVSA president, Hector Ciavaldini and firebrand Adina Bastidas.

• The third group consists of retired army officers belonging to Movimiento Quinta Republica (MVR).

Rodriguez can count on PDVSA-West and PDVSA-East directors, Felix Rodriguez and Luis Marin respectively, Labor Minister Maria Cristina Iglesias, Jose Albornoz in the National Assembly and Mario Isea.

The Garibaldi Group wanted Rodriguez’ head last October. Ciavaldini brought the following into PDVSA and they are still in key positions: Diego Uzcategui, Romulo Gilarte, Alfredo Pineda, Luis Davila, Luis Correa, Favio Gonzalez Ciavaldini, Alejandro Gomez, Jorge Perez, Argenis Rodriguez, Alfredo Riera and Hector Viveros.

MVR counts on Oswaldo Contreras Meza (Citgo) and Gustavo Perez Isea, head of the Security & Losses Department.

Mogollon alleges a conflict between Rodriguez and Ciavaldini over the purchase of gasoline during the national stoppage.

Rodriguez hired Pepex electronic systems to buy 14 million barrels of gasoline for the domestic market at Platts +7 (US) cents a gallon, but PDVSA Commerce & Supply management off its own bat did the same with Golf + 16,5 (US) cents a gallon (almost $1 more per gallon).

Ciavaldini is said to have clinched the deal in Manhattan with Glencore, which has a bad name in Venezuela since it was struck off PDVSA’s client list in 1994 when it was connected to Marc Rich.  Ciavaldini reinstated the company when he became president, along with Novarco, whose representative is a relative.