MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Venezuela's oil production returning to normal

Venezuelan oil production, which fell to 150,000 barrels per day at the height of a two-month opposition-led strike, will reach 2.7 million bpd by the end of March, state oil company chief Ali Rodriguez said yesterday.

Before the strike, Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, was the world's fifth-largest exporter of crude oil, and produced around 3 million bpd.

Production plummeted in December and January after a large number of the company's directors and employees joined the general strike called by opposition labor and business groups bent on ousting President Hugo Chavez.

"Let it hurt whoever it hurts and let whoever denies it deny it, PDVSA's production at the end of the month will be at 2.7 million barrels per day, at least," Rodriguez said. The virtual disappearance of Venezuelan crude oil from the international market and the threat of a U.S. military attack on Iraq have been cited by energy analysts as the main causes for the sudden rise in oil prices.

"Exports are returning to normal. There is a growing flow of oil into the international market, which at this time is experiencing high levels of demand due to the aforementioned situation," he said.

"We've overcome the severe shock dealt the oil industry by the actions unleashed in December by a group of irresponsible individuals." The crisis made PDVSA authorities readjust the company's payroll and reduce it from 40,000 to some 25,000 people. Eighty percent of those fired were executives and other white-collar workers who supported the strike, the government claims.

The strike caused PDVSA to lose more than $5 billion, and forced the government to further cut the national budget, which normally relies on oil revenue for half its funding.

The Attorney General's Office took legal action on Feb. 24 against the main instigators of the oil company strike by issuing arrest warrants for several former executives, who still remain at large.