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To: kormac who wrote (76475)	10/17/2000 12:51:18 AM
From: Aggie	Respond to of 95453

Hi Seppo, Looks like Chavez is doing a little union bustin'. slb.com Military Officer Named Head of Venezuela Oil Firm By Daniel Flynn CARACAS, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday named an army general head of state oil company PDVSA, vowing to shake up the company after a four-day strike by oil workers at the world's No. 3 petroleum exporter. Printer-friendly version E-mail to colleagues The politically charged strike ended late Saturday when the government acceded to many demands of the opposition-controlled unions. Senior government officials suggested PDVSA's mishandling of wage talks had provoked the strike, the most damaging labour conflict of Chavez's 20-month-old government. "Beginning today we are going to start a thorough restructuring in PDVSA, from the very top down," Chavez said during his weekly radio show, "Hello President." "The new president of Petroleos de Venezuela starting from today is General Guaicaipuro Lameda," he revealed. Lameda, who was working as the head of Venezuela's Central Budgetary Office, will replace PDVSA President Hector Ciavaldini, who had been widely criticised by industry officials for a lack of management experience. The general graduated as an electrical engineer and has a postgraduate qualification in economic planning, Chavez said. Venezuela, one of top four suppliers of crude oil and heating fuel to the United States, is economically dependent on oil, from which it gains around a third of its GDP and three-quarters of its exports. This week's strike did not affect the South American nation's oil production of around 3 million barrels a day due to a contingency plan implemented by PDVSA. ARMY TAKES OVER PDVSA Lameda will be the third president of PDVSA appointed during Chavez's administration. Chavez, a former paratrooper, has pledged to eliminate widespread graft in the state oil company and to bring it under close government control. Populist Chavez, who won election to a fresh six-year presidential term on July 30, said, "I am reviewing PDVSA's business myself, with a microscope... there is a lot of waste to cut away." Lameda was the second military official named to a senior PDVSA post in a week, after Chavez last Sunday tapped Gen. Oswaldo Contreras to head PDVSA's U.S. refining and marketing branch, Citgo. Contreras, who will be sworn in by Chavez in the United States on Monday, has strict orders to make the $20 billion business pay more dividends to the Venezuelan state. Meanwhile, Chavez vowed to end the control of opposition parties on Venezuela's powerful labour movement a day after the largest oil union, Fedepetrol, won a new collective agreement that met most of its demands for the 50,000 workers in the sector. Fedepetrol won a pay raise of 6,000 bolivars a day ($8.70) for workers, with 5,000 bolivars taking effect immediately and the remaining 1,000 bolivars coming in February. Workers will also receive a bonus of 2.5 million bolivars ($3,600) to compensate for a delay in the collective contract, which should have been renewed in November 1999. The deal came only a day after Chavez had called the union's demands "impossible," said they could bankrupt PDVSA, and called labour leaders "bandits." Chavez vowed Sunday "we are going to bring an end, after half a century, to the dictatorship in Venezuelan unions, and the anarchy caused by numerous syndicates." The government-controlled National Assembly last week approved a referendum for Dec. 3 on whether to restructure the Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV). Regards, Aggie

To: kormac who wrote (76475)	10/17/2000 1:24:35 AM
From: BeachBum	Respond to of 95453

seppo... Here is an article from the Houston Chronicle ( 2 actually, 2 days old ) Oct. 15, 2000, 6:38PM Business briefs Venezuelan president replaces leader of state oil company CARACAS,Venezuela -- President Hugo Chávez said Sunday the state-owned oil monopoly will be restructured from top to bottom. He started by firing the company's president. Chávez, a former coup leader popular with the country's poor, named Guaicaipuro Lameda Montero, a general and engineer who was heading the government budget office, as the new chief of Petróleos de Venezuela. Lameda replaces outgoing Héctor Ciavaldini, a chemical engineer who held the state monopoly's top job since August 31, 1999. Chávez's announcement came a day after an agreement between the government and oil workers was signed to end a five-day nationwide strike that had paralyzed the country's petroleum industry. The monopoly, known as PDVSA, is one of the largest suppliers of crude to the United States. Saudi Arabia announces plans to increase oil output ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates -- Saudi Arabia will increase output by itself to bring down prices if fellow members of OPEC failed to take such a step, Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi said Sunday. But Naimi said that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries preferred to act in unison. He was speaking while attending an oil conference in Abu Dhabi. Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter and producer, has an extra capacity of some 2 million barrels per day. Beside the United Arab Emirates, which has additional capacity of 500,000 barrels, all other OPEC producers are believed to be pumping at maximum levels. OPEC said in June that it would increase output by 500,000 barrels if the OPEC basket of crudes remained over $28 per barrel for more than 20 consecutive trading days. chron.com Back to the bushes... BB ^-^-