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Chavez decrees temporary confiscation of private transport *** CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez branded striking oil workers as traitors sabotaging Venezuela's oil-based economy and issued a decree allowing temporary seizure of private transport to ensure deliveries of food and gas. "We must always be alert, ready to defend our revolution," Chavez told thousands of supporters late Wednesday at a Caracas arena. He said the strikers "have aligned themselves with treason," and he vowed to remain in power as long as Venezuelans want him there.

Chavez, who commandeered some private truck fleets on Dec. 8 to deliver gas, expanded on that order with a decree allowing civilian and military officials to temporarily seize any vehicle that delivers gas, oil or food - including trucks, boats and aircraft - to end strike-caused shortages. Chavez ordered inspections of businesses to determine if any were hoarding goods such as milk, rice or medicine. Those doing so could be fined. His decree, dated Tuesday and published late Wednesday, cited threats to national security caused by shortages of essential goods. ***

Venezuela government plan to import oil products raises doubts [Full Text] AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's plan to import gasoline and other refined products to offset a shortage as a nationwide strike enters its third week has many flaws and simply won't work, industry observers and analysts said Monday. The financial and logistical risks of importing refined product in a country almost entirely equipped for exports while ports and shipping crews are almost all on strike are just too high, they say.

"I can't think of a single shipping company in the world that is prepared to take care of a tanker and have it unloaded in a port that is declared unsafe," said Jose Toro Hardy, a former director at state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela SA and now a private oil consultant. Currently, only one small refinery is producing, but running at a meager rate of 80,000 barrels a day. Venezuela needs around 400,000 barrels a day to satisfy its domestic needs.

The overwhelming majority of workers at ports in Venezuela have joined the strike, making any export shipments or unloading procedures a risky operation. Only a few ports are equipped to unload tankers for domestic supply. "But the overall system is set up for exporting and not importing," says William Edwards, president of the Texas-based Edwards Energy Consultants. Shipping agencies will also have difficulties securing credit and have their shipments insured for a Venezuelan destination, analysts say.

Sourcing products for import is yet another question, Edwards said. "It is possible that the country can get some products out of its Caribbean outlets," he said. And any imports will be very limited, he added: "I think only 10 percent of its daily domestic needs, really insignificant." Venezuela's oil production has thinned to a trickle against just under 3 million barrels a day before the strike began Dec. 2. Analysts don't view Chavez's threats to bring foreign crews and use the military - which lacks the required technical skills - to restart domestic oil operations as very realistic, either, given the sheer magnitude of the task. The vast majority of PdVSA's 40,000 workers are on strike, as are oil workers in associated or supporting sectors crucial to Venezuela's oil industry as a whole. The stakes for the government are high as sustained gasoline shortages could trigger riots. Toro Hardy estimated that Caracas still has gasoline supply for four to five days. [End]