www.forbes.com Reuters, 02.21.03, 3:23 PM ET CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Venezuela's strike-hit oil production rose by over 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.515 million bpd on Friday, dissident workers of state oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) said. The government, which has been struggling to restart the OPEC nation's oil sector after a strike by foes of President Hugo Chavez, says output is over 2 million bpd. On Thursday, the rebel PDVSA staff said output was around 1.4 million bpd. Venezuela had been pumping about 3.1 million bpd before the strike, which had wide support from PDVSA managers and executive, was started on Dec. 2. Chavez has since fired over 12,000 of the rebel oil staff, and vowed they will never be allowed to return. The dissident workers continue to hold anti-government rallies and say replacement staff hired to restart the industry will never restore oil production to pre-strike levels.

www.forbes.com Reuters, 02.19.03, 4:59 PM ET

MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexico, despite being tightly stretched in its crude production capacity, could supply world markets with an extra 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil in the event of a war against Iraq, Mexico's top energy official said on Wednesday. "If the world requires more oil Mexico could offer perhaps 100,000 barrels (a day) more," Energy Minister Ernesto Martens told reporters in Monterrey during a visit to inaugurate a power plant. Non-OPEC Mexico last month announced it would raise its export platform to 1.88 million bpd as of Feb. 1 as part of a deal with the OPEC cartel to cover the shortfall from a Venezuelan strike and in a bid to cool sizzling oil prices amid the threat of a U.S. attack on Iraq. For January, Mexico increased exports to 1.76 million bpd from the 1.66 million bpd ceiling maintained through most of last year. In December Mexico produced an average of 3.269 million bpd, of which it exported 1.690 million bpd on average. Officials at state oil monopoly Pemex have said Mexico is pretty much at its production and export capacity limit. Pemex is targeting average crude oil output of 3.5 million bpd by the end of 2003. Mexico is one of the top four suppliers to the United States, along with Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Canada. Concerns over supply disruptions resulting from a war come as Venezuela struggles to return exports to normal after a crippling strike and Nigerian oil workers stage a walk-out although supplies have remained normal so far. On the domestic front, Martens played down fears of a natural gas crisis, fanned by comments from Pemex head Raul Munoz last week saying the nation faced a major shortage of the fuel. "There is no problem of gas supply," said Martens. "I have to say that unless an emergency crops up, which is as yet unknown, Mexico has its supply assured of fuel in its different forms that will be required in the next months." Munoz said Mexico would need to find an extra 100,000 cubic feet per day from somewhere, even if it almost doubled natural gas imports to 1.1 billion cubic feet per day, which he said was pushing the nation's import capacity to the maximum.

www.canada.com CanWest News Services Wednesday, February 19, 2003

ExxonMobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, will resume loading oil from Venezuela's Jose port, the first U.S. company to do so since a strike began Dec. 2.

The Therassia will load 525,000 barrels of synthetic crude from ExxonMobil's heavy-oil Cerro Negro joint venture, said Ruben Rodriguez, the port's loading manager for state-oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA. The U.S. company made the decision after an evaluation of the port, Rodriguez said.

"The port is safe, and we're hoping other companies start loading as well," said Rodriguez. "We're in talks with Shell."

The shipment represents a blow to oil strikers who are in 79th day of a strike aimed at toppling President Hugo Chavez. The strikers have been able to reduce the country's oil exports by staying off the job and claiming that the ports are unsafe, which has led many companies to refuse to send tankers to Venezuela.

ExxonMobil spokesman Richard Bailey declined comment.

U.S.-based Valero Energy Corp. will also send the tanker Tatriz to Jose on Feb. 21 to pick up synthetic crude from the Sincor heavy oil joint venture, Rodriguez said.

Since the strike began Dec. 2, only tankers owned by, or chartered to, state-oil company Petroleos de Venezuela or the Cuban oil company, have used Jose.

Jose was shipping about 700,000 barrels a day before the strike started.

www.newsday.com The Associated Press February 18, 2003 Oil output could reach 2.8 million barrels a day within a month, when restrictions on sending tankers to Venezuelan ports are lifted, the head of Venezuela's state-run oil company said yesterday. Foreign shippers were warned against loading in Venezuelan ports during a two-month strike against President Hugo Chávez. The work stoppage ended on Feb. 3 in all sectors except the all-important oil industry. Some major companies in the shipping and oil industry, however, have decided to return to Venezuela. Exxon Mobil Corp. plans to resume loading this week while refiner Valero Energy Corp. has chartered a tanker to load 2 million barrels of crude. Once exports pick up, oil output could jump to 2.8 million barrels per day - Venezuela's quota as set by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries - by mid-March, said Ali Rodriguez, president of Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., or PDVSA.

www.charlotte.com Posted on Tue, Feb. 18, 2003

BOGOTA, Colombia - The state-owned oil company in Venezuela, though hobbled by a faltering 78-day strike by oil workers, could be producing 2.8 million barrels per day within a month, Venezuela's quota as set by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, the president of the company said Monday.

Reaching 2.8 million barrels per day would be a milestone for the state-owned company, Petroleos de Venezuela, once the world's second-largest oil company and a major supplier of petroleum to the United States.

The company used to produce 3.1 million barrels a day until an antigovernment strike paralyzed production, devastating Venezuela's economy and severely testing the leftist government of President Hugo Chavez.

The announcement by Ali Rodriguez, president of the company, was made in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital. It was quickly rebutted by dissident oil executives who on Dec. 2 led a walkout of thousands of workers that is continuing.

The walkout was part of a nationwide general action, but the strike in the other sectors fizzled out earlier this month.