Venezuela's opposition insisted Tuesday its 16-day-old general strike against President Hugo Chavez is choking off gas supplies and oil income for the world's fifth-largest oil exporter.
The threat to domestic transportation and the loss of $50 million daily in export income pose the strike's biggest dangers for Chavez, who has sent soldiers to striking oil facilities to little effect.
"The overall sentiment among workers is: Strike until he leaves," said Gonzalo Feijoo, a planning adviser for Venezuela's state-owned oil monopoly, Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., where top management is in open rebellion.
Thousands of protesters seeking Chavez's ouster or early elections marched along Caracas' Cota Mil highway toward the tomb of national hero Simon Bolivar. The site is near the presidential palace, where bloody protests eight months ago led to Chavez's brief ouster.
Chavez maintains Venezuela's constitution requires him to accept the results of a possible recall halfway into his six-year term, or next August. He has defied calls for elections in early 2003.
The strike has reduced Venezuela's oil output of nearly 3 million barrels a day to 400,000 barrels per day, sending the price of crude oil above $30 a barrel. Venezuela's strike coincides with speculation that possible U.S. action against Iraq might take Iraqi oil off the market.
As CBS http://www.imfaceplate.com/energychoose/the-liberty-biogas-generator-system News Correspondent Bill Whitaker reports, today saw a struggle for the heart and soul of Venezuela. Embattled President Chavez prayed at the tomb of Simon Bolivar -- the George Washington of the nation -- a not-too subtle hint the military is with him.
Right after he left, tens of thousands of anti-Chavez protesters snaked through the city to the tomb to claim the liberator as their own, but they were stopped short by police and Chavez supporters. If the battle for Venezuela's soul was about symbolism, the fight over its heart -- its oil -- was about survival.
With tankers sitting idle, the price of oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange jumped 5.8% yesterday to $30.10 a barrel, and could go higher with continued crises or war with Iraq.
According to Humberto Calderon-Berti, former Venezuelan Oil Minister, "Prices maybe would double, which in my opinion is very dangerous for the world economy."
Experts say OPEC could make up the difference, for now.
"They can offset the losses of Venezuelan crude, they can offset the losses of Iraqi crude, but they really can't offset the loss of both simultaneously," Bill O'Grady, an oil export, tells Whitaker.
In Venezuela, striking oil producers are pumping just enough to keep the country from going dark. There's little gas for cars, there's almost none for cooking.
One of the world's largest oil refineries stopped refining products because of the strike. Curacao's Refineria Isla was running out of storage capacity as international clients sought alternate supplies, said Norbert Chaclin, the refinery's technical services manager.
The refinery, operated by Venezuela's oil company, stopped producing gasoline, lubricants, jet fuel, propane and other products for the United States and the Caribbean, Chaclin said. Its last delivery was Sunday.
Two of Venezuela's largest refineries, including one producing gasoline for Venezuela and the United States, have shut down. State oil company executives have vowed to cap wells until Chavez resigns or calls early elections.
Venezuela's 13-tanker shipping fleet lies at anchor, its striking crews refusing to deliver their cargos. Foreign shippers refuse to operate in Venezuela, citing unsafe conditions. Insurers refuse to cover transport to and from Venezuela, the No. 4 oil exporter to the United States.
Chavez was dealt another blow Tuesday when officials at the giant Hovensa refinery in the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Croix announced no gasoline shipment was headed to Venezuela.
Venezuela has a majority stake in the refinery, which also supplies the U.S. East Coast and is one of the largest in the Western Hemisphere. Its 400,000-barrel-per-day production has been cut in half.
Chavez insisted Sunday his government would ensure gasoline deliveries. He commandeered private trucks to deliver it. That hasn't stopped panic buying and mile-long lines as state oil company executives insist gas will run out within days. Transport problems have led to shortages of basic staples, and Colombia said Tuesday that Venezuela has asked it for food.
"If the gasoline goes, there will be chaos," Rafael Haddat, a 44-year-old agronomist, said at a filling station.
In the eastern state of Anzoategui, about 300 pro-Chavez workers were heading to the Anaco natural gas plant to meet with striking workers and, if necessary, force the plant to open, the state Venpres news agency said.
"This is very serious ... because they don't have the absolute minimum experience required to operate equipment that controls such high volumes of gas," complex spokesman Luis Vidal told Union Radio on Tuesday.
Signs of desperation appeared. Officials have tried to install unqualified and long-retired sea captains to move the Pilin Leon, a tanker carrying 280,000 barrels of gasoline that has been anchored in protest in Lake Maracaibo, said Fernando Reyes, a spokesman for the striking merchant mariners union.
Last week, Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. president Ali Rodriguez
a former secretary general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries -- urged Chavez street activists to rally around oil facilities throughout the country.
Chavez has fired top executives at the state oil monopoly, which prizes its autonomy and accuses the Venezuelan leader of politicizing the company. Among their complaints are oil exports to communist Cuba.
Opposition strikers also are considering a march on the presidential palace itself. The last time they tried, 19 people were killed and hundreds were wounded -- some at the hands of pro-Chavez civilians. The April 11 bloodshed provoked a coup that ousted Chavez for two days. He was restored when a new government dissolved the constitution.
The United States expressed strong support Tuesday for an Organization of American States resolution that rejects any attempt at subverting the democratic process in Venezuela. The OAS permanent council approved the resolution after a lengthy debate. OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria is mediating negotiations on possible elections.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/venezuelan-strife-jogs-energy-markets/
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