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Chavez puts oil deal above US | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has provided for the first time the estimated value of preferential oil deals with 17 Caribbean and Latin American countries. Mr Chavez said in his weekly radio address that Venezuela was now exporting about 200,000 barrels a day of oil under the Petrocaribe agreement. Under the deal, Venezuela provides low-cost, long-term financing to mostly Caribbean nations. The recipients can also settle part of the bill in non-cash payments like bananas. Mr Chavez said that calculated at an average oil price of $60 dollars a barrel, the total financial assistance for oil shipments alone amounts to US$1.6 billion a year. He said that average price was at that level because Petrocaribe includes more costly refined products than crude. Mr Chavez said: "Venezuela, as modest as it is, is helping Latin America much more than the United States." Influence The Venezuelan leader is just back from a tour of Caribbean and Latin American countries where he promoted his Americas integration proposal, of which Petrocaribe is a part. He sees it as an alternative to free trade deals with the United States. His trip shadowed a tour of Latin America by President Bush, which correspondents said was aimed at countering the growing influence of Mr Chavez. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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OECS steps closer to unity
