Chavez says Venezuela oil output normal in few weeks

Reuters ^

[Dallas]

BRASILIA, Brazil, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Thursday that in a few weeks his country's oil industry, which has been hobbled by weeks of strikes, would be fully operational again.

"In a few weeks we will reestablish full operations in our oil industry," Chavez told journalists during a visit to Brasilia for the inauguration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. "That is what we have told our clients in the world."

Striking workers have said returning the oil operations to normal levels will take months and will only be possible once employees of state oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) return to their posts.

Chavez said he could not put an actual date on when the oil industry in the world's fifth largest oil exporter would be back at full capacity but he was confident it would be soon.

"We do not dare to put a date on it," Chavez said. "It would be daring but we are certain that in a few weeks we will recover full operations."

Chavez said his country was now producing 800,000 bpd.

Venezuelan oil minister Rafael Ramirez said earlier this week that the OPEC nation is currently producing 600,000 to 700,000 bpd, compared with 3.1 million bpd in November. Striking employees from PDVSA maintain oil output is below 200,000 bpd.

Ramirez said replacement staff employed by the government to break the strike would be able to increase oil production to 1.2 million bpd by next week.

[Free the USA]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[nypokerface]

"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Thursday that in a few weeks his country's oil industry, which has been hobbled by weeks of strikes, would be fully operational again."

- Does this mean he's stepping down.

[razorback-bert]

Striking workers have said returning the oil operations to normal levels will take months

I agree with the workers, using untrained workers causes FUBARs.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Someone told me Chavez's people had already blown up a unit at one of the refineries in Venezuela. Might be a good idea to be 100 miles away.

[Dog Gone]

Chavez must be smoking crack. Who is training these new workers?

[KC_Conspirator]

Once again communists display (as they did in the Soviet Union, Warsaw Pact, and Cuba) that they are truly the best at breaking strikes and crushing unions; better than any capitalist could ever hope to be.

[Dog Gone]

CARACAS (Dow Jones)--Striking oil workers at Venezuela's state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela SA (E.PVZ) decided at an assembly meeting Thursday to continue the strike which entered its 32th day and has crippled the nation's oil industry.

"He (President Hugo Chavez) is wrong if he thinks we're going to back off," Horacio Medina said after the assembly voted in favor of a continuation of the strike. Medina is one of the main spokesmen of the striking oil workers and white-collar employees.

Medina said the moment the workers achieve their goal of an ouster of Chavez followed by early elections, they all would return to their jobs. However, that seems unlikely given Chavez's refusal to give into the opposition's demand. The strike has crippled oil operations and pushed world oil prices higher as the country's output of around three million b/d has been removed from the market.

Chavez said Thursday oil operations could be back at full force within 45 days, but industry sources have said the country is still far away from getting PdVSA back on its feet.

[cocopuff]

Bingo!!!