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VENEZUELA: Chavez proposes a Latin American oil company.
April 18, 2000. (Energy Press)
The Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, proposed the creation of a multi-state Latin American company, which includes Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia and Cuba to promote the regional co-operation in the energy sector. Chavez said that the company could be called Petroamerica. He also used the opportunity to disqualified the proposal made by the Cuban president, Fidel Castro, who defended a different oil price system for poor countries. According to Castro, that would be a "concrete and efective" way of co-operation.
Chavez said that Petroamerica would be "a Latin American/Caribbean multi-state organization". He admitted that the proposal has no easy implementation. The Venezuelan president cited as currently co-operation examples the recently signed deal with Cuba to reactivate a refinery, a deal with Ecuador about processing heavy oil and another with Brazil, to co-operate in the energy sector.
The Venezuelan president also re-affirmed his proposal to extend the San Jose Pact to more countries. According to that pact, Venezuela and Mexico divide the daily distribution of 160,000 barrels of oil and derivatives to eleven Centro-American and Caribbean countries with better payment conditions. Chavez declared to have consulted Mexico about this ampliation and that the Mexicans are still studying the proposal. If Mexico doesn't agree, Chavez said, Venezuela "is open to make other similar deals " to include other countries like Cuba.
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