MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Record oil income year for Venezuela.

Venezuela's oil industry sales could be in excess of 30 billion US dollars, according to the National Economic Council (CEN) and the Central Bank. CEN chairman Efrain Velasquez said the figures were based on results from Venezuela's balance of payments at the end of the first half of this year, when “petroleum exports generated $15 billion”.

"In 2003, oil exports totalled $20 billion" and net income from hydrocarbons sales could top $30 billion US dollars in 2004.

Central Bank president Domingo Maza quoted in the Caracas press said that government owned oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela, PDVSA, could report net income this year of around 32 billion US dollars.

"This is much dependent on the price of crude remaining in the range of 32 US dollars per barrel and an export volume of 1 billion barrels a year", said Mr. Maza. With this level of income Venezuela can spare a surplus equivalent to 10 billion US dollars which "would ideally be ploughed into the Macroeconomic Stabilization Fund".

President Hugo Chavez's administration has promised to invest surplus income from oil to finance housing, health and middle- and high-school educational programs.

After two drastic downfalls in 2002 and 2003 when the Venezuelan economy contracted 8,9% and 9,4%, during the first half of this year the country managed a 23,1% expansion fuelled basically on the strategic oil sector

Venezuela one of the founding members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter and the fourth-largest supplier to the United States.

The Venezuela export quota agreed by OPEC is just below 3 million barrels per day.