IN THE NEWS / Venezuelan Leader Vows Oil Shakeup
By AP
CARACAS -- It's one of the world's largest oil companies and
an island of efficiency in a country racked by bureaucratic
anarchy.
But president-elect Hugo Cha-vez is vowing to shake up
Pet-roleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, the state-owned oil
monopoly he claims has become an elitist, money-squandering
giant ac-countable to no one.
"PDVSA has become a state within a state," he said at a news
conference hours after his landslide Dec. 6 victory. "That is going
to end in the administration of Hugo Chavez Frias."
His plans for the No. 1 foreign supplier of oil to the U.S. and the
franchiser of 14,500 U.S. gas stations through its Citgo
Petroleum Corp. are alarming PDVSA executives.
They fear he will dismantle the company that is Ven-ezuela's
biggest source of export earnings.
They also worry a government shakeup will derail or slow a
multi-billion-dollar expansion plan involving Mobil Corp., Exxon
Corp., Atlantic Richfield Co. and others.
"There is no company that is more supervised, controlled or
audited than PDVSA," said Luis Giusti, the company's University
of Tulsa-trained president.
He boasts of PDVSA's international reputation for excellence.
Chavez, who led a 1992 coup attempt against the government,
has announced he will fire Giusti, divert some of PDVSA's profits
to social spending and rein in plans to boost production sharply.
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