Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said Thursday that the government isn't planning any measures to ration fuel consumption in the South American country.
Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said Thursday that the government
isn't planning any measures to ration fuel consumption in the South American
country.
"President Hugo Chavez always talks about using our resources reasonably;
that doesn't mean that we are going to ration gasoline," the minister said
in response to questions after his annual address to the National Assembly. "We
are not going to transfer international prices to our people to pay for a
resource that is ours," he added.
His comments come just days after Chavez said that the country needed to reduce
domestic fuel consumption, which analysts say exceeds 600,000 barrels a day. At
a little more than 10 cents a gallon, Venezuelans enjoy the cheapest gasoline
in the world.
Critics say the government needs to find a way to limit domestic usage so that
more can be diverted to exports, so the country can maintain its finances. The
government spends more than $1.5 billion a year to subsidize fuel locally.
Ramirez, who also serves as the head of state-run oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela,
or PDVSA, said the company's net profit last year was $3.1 billion, a nearly
30% decline from the previous year.
The company recorded revenue of $96.1 billion in 2010, Ramirez said, while it
ended the year with around $25 billion in debt, up from $21.4 billion
Last week, the company announced financial results for the first nine months of
2010, reporting a 35% rise in net income, to $3.455 billion.
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