November
29, 2004
Venezuela's PDVSA may sell portions of
Citgo
(Reuters, reproduced by Los Angeles
Times) - "Venezuelan state oil
company PDVSA may sell some parts of Citgo
Petroleum Corp., its U.S. refining and
marketing affiliate, PDVSA's new president
said.
'We're looking at it,'
said Rafael Ramírez, Venezuela's
energy minister and the newly named
president of PDVSA, in an interview
with local television in Caracas. 'It
depends on the review we make. We'll
see what suits us and what doesn't'.
Ramírez, who was
appointed PDVSA chief by President Hugo
Chávez on Nov. 20, said 'some
parts' of the Citgo operations could
be sold.
Venezuela, the world's
No. 5 oil exporter and a member of the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries, is a leading supplier of
crude oil and refined products to the
United States.
Through Citgo, PDVSA operates
a network of U.S. refineries and more
than 15,000 gasoline stations.
PDVSA, the state-owned
oil company formally known as Petróleos
de Venezuela, also has shares in European
refineries in Germany, Sweden, Belgium
and Britain.
'I think there are some things which
don't suit us, not just in Citgo, but
above all in Europe,' Ramírez
said".
