- CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters)
- Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said on Monday his government plans
to sell as much as 66,000 barrels per day of heating fuel from its U.S.
Citgo refinery to poor communities in the United States.
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- The offer, made after populist Chavez held talks with
U.S. civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson, would represent 10 percent
of the 660,000 bpd of refined products processed by Citgo. The deals would
cut consumer costs by direct sales.
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- Venezuela's Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said officials
were still working on the details on how the oil would be sold from Citgo,
a unit of the state oil firm PDVSA.
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- "We are going to direct as much as 10 percent of
the production, that means 66,000 barrels, without intermediaries, to poor
communities, hospitals, religious communities, schools," Chavez told
reporters at a press conference.
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- The world's No. 5 oil exporter, oil cartel OPEC member
Venezuela is a key supplier to the United States, providing about 15 percent
of all U.S. energy imports.
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- But relations between Caracas and Washington have become
strained since left-winger Chavez was elected in 1998 promising social
reforms.
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- Chavez, a former army officer who survived a coup in
2002, frequently accuses the U.S. of backing efforts to kill him or topple
his government. U.S. officials dismiss those charges but say Chavez has
become a threat to regional stability.
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