Venezuela,
Belize sign Petrocaribe deal
Trinidad Express
CARACAS
Petroleumworldtt.com
12 03 06
Venezuela has signed an agreement to sell 4,000
barrels of fuel a day to Belize, the state oil company
has said.
The
shipments will include diesel, gasoline, jet fuel,
lubricants and other oil products, Petroleos de
Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, said in a statement last
week.
The
agreement is part of the Petrocaribe oil deal that
Venezuela has signed with 14 Caribbean countries
under President Hugo Chavez, who has sought to create
alternatives to US-backed trade deals in the region.
Under
Petrocaribe, countries only pay part of their oil
bill up front and finance the rest over 25 years
at low interest. Venezuela can also provide tanks,
docking facilities and other infrastructure, and
has accepted goods such as rice or bananas as partial
payment.
Venezuela
is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter and has
sought new markets to reduce its reliance on the
United States, its biggest customer.
PDVSA
also announced last week that it had signed a deal
with Brazilian industrial conglomerate Andrade Gutierrez
to build oil tankers in Venezuela.
The
joint venture will be the first to manufacture tankers
and offshore oil platforms in the South American
country, the company said in a statement.
The
deal is considered the first step in building a
new fleet to transport more oil to China and other
Asian countries. Offshore platforms will also be
useful as Venezuela's seek to tap offshore energy
deposits, PDVSA said.
The
oil company plans to increase its total fleet to
42 ships by 2012, the statement said.
Trinidad
Express
Wednesday, November 29th 2006
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