[Previous entry: "An Explosive Gas Deal"] [Next entry: "Armed Group Shuts Down Part of Nigeria's Oil Output"]

02/27/2006:

"Venezuela Cautions U.S. It May Curtail Oil Exports"

BOGOTÁ, Colombia, Feb. 26 — Venezuela's oil minister, in blunt comments published in a Caracas newspaper on Sunday, warned the United States that it could steer oil exports away from the United States and toward other markets.

The minister, Rafael Ramírez, said Venezuela, which is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter and supplies more than 10 percent of American oil imports, could act in the face of what he described as aggression by the Bush administration.

Although such warnings have become part of President Hugo Chávez's verbal arsenal against the Bush administration, the comments by Mr. Ramírez, coupled with the increasing sale of oil to China, are seen by oil experts and political analysts as a signal that Venezuela is serious about finding new buyers.

"Physically it's very feasible, and politically it's very feasible," said Lawrence Goldstein, president of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation, a New York policy analysis group financed by the industry. "It comes with an economic penalty, but apparently Chávez is willing to pay that price."
nytimes.com