Chávez grants new terms under PetroCaribe Agreement
By Stanford Conway
Editor-in-Chief-SKNVibes.com
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President Hugo Chávez
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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – IN the wake of the rising oil prices, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez has eased the terms under which Caribbean countries purchase oil through the PetroCaribe Agreement.
According to Venezuela’s daily newspaper, El Universal, Chávez proposed that under the new terms, should crude oil prices rise higher than US$100, PetroCaribe members would pay 40 percent of the bill and the other 60 percent would be paid in 25 years with a one percent annual interest rate.
El Universal also noted Chávez has further proposed that should crude oil prices reach US$150, PetroCaribe signatory countries would have to pay 30 percent of the bill within 90 days and the remaining 70 percent would have a special financing at the time of signing of the final agreement.
Under the previous terms of the agreement, if oil prices were higher than US$100, member countries paid 50 percent of the bill within 90 days while Venezuela financed the other 50 percent in 25 years with an annual interest rate of one percent and a grace period of two years.
The new terms of agreement were announced at the conclusion of the Fifth Special Summit of PetroCaribe, held in Maracaibo, Venezuela on Sunday, July 13.
El Universal said Chávez made this decision after Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernández, during his speech at the Summit, informed the participants of the burden PetroCaribe signatories are feeling since the hike of the oil bill in past months. ~~Adz:Right~~
According to Fernández, the cost of the oil bill for a group of 57 developing countries is US$40b, noting it is a huge expenditure for poor nations and oil-producing countries should offer more solidarity.
Also during the Summit, Venezuelan Energy and Oil Minister Rafael Ramírez revealed that over the last three years, oil supply to PetroCaribe member states had increased and some 59 million barrels were provided to those countries between 2005 and June 2008.
El Universal stated that during the seven-hour meeting, President Chávez also announced that one of the oil blocks of heavy crude oil in the Orinoco Belt would be assigned to PetroCaribe member countries, and that several requests made by some Caribbean Heads of State were accepted by the Venezuelan President.
