Mexico, Venezuela Vie For Energy Influence

ENERGY NEWS

China's CNPC signs oil, fuel deal with Venezuela
Caracas (AFP) Nov 15 - China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) signed two contracts with the state-owned Venezuelan oil company PDVSA under for crude and heating oil, a PDVSA official said Tuesday. Under the deals terms, CNPC will receive 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Venezuelan crude annually and 60,000 bpd of heating oil until 2007, according to PDVSA director Asdrubal Chavez. Chavez said PDVSA hopes to build its crude and products exports to China to 300,000 bpd. "The idea behind the signing of these contracts is to strengthen the commercial and cooperative relationship with China," Chavez said.

A CNPC official, Zhao Yong, said the contracts make PDVSA one of China's principal crude and products suppliers.

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By Andrea R. Mihailescu
UPI Energy Correspondent
Mexico City, Mexico (UPI) Nov 15, 2005
With oil and gas prices hitting record highs, Mexico and Venezuela are vying for energy influence.

Banco Centroamericano de Integracion Economica predicts Central America's oil bill this year will be $5 billion. The region's GDP is $80 billion.

Mexico plans to construct a $3.2 billion oil refinery for Central America, which imports virtually all its oil and fuel, but soaring oil prices this year have hurt the region economically. Mexico's Pemex plans to open several gas stations across the region, while stirring up competition in what has been an oligopolistic market.

Venezuela, meanwhile, is also interested in using its vast petroleum resources to increase its influence in the region.

Known for his generous energy deals under the PetroCaribe initiative, President Hugo Chavez recently offered cheap fuel to Nicaragua and to construct the storage tanks needed to handle it.

Under Chavez's scheme, 15 Caribbean nations will participate and the world's fifth-largest oil exporter will pick up 40 percent of the tab for oil supplied when global prices are more than $50 per barrel and will pick up shipping costs and assist with the creating storage facilities.

But Barbados refused Venezuela's offer while Trinidad & Tobago produces and exports its own oil and gas.

Some Nicaraguans are skeptical over Chavez's offer and are asking if they will have to support his anti-U.S. foreign policy in return.

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ENERGY NEWS

Clean Energy Soon Indispensable As Oil Runs Low: Experts

Stockholm (AFP) Nov 09, 2005
As fuel consumption continues to rise around the world despite high oil prices and a growing fear of a shortage of the "black gold", experts at an international conference in Stockholm said Wednesday that clean energy would soon be indispensable.