Gold9472
01-29-2006, 10:48 AM
Venezuela donates heating oil again to U.S. poor
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/arabtimes/breakingnews/view.asp?msgID=11076
PHILADELPHIA, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Some low-income households in the Philadelphia area will get cheap heating oil from Venezuela, officials said on Friday, in the latest snipe by leftist President Hugo Chavez against the U.S. government.
The donations deepen an ongoing spat between Chavez and President George W. Bush, who calls Chavez a threat to democracy in Latin America. Socialist Chavez says Bush is trying to undermine his political support.
The world's fifth-biggest oil exporter will supply 5 million gallons (22.7 million liters) of heating oil starting next month to about 25,000 households that qualify for state home heat assistance but have exhausted their allocation for this winter, said Ron Goldwyn, a spokesman for Rep. Chaka Fattah, Democrat of Pennsylvania.
The households, which will be entitled to as much as 200 gallons (909 liters) each, will have to pay just 60 percent of the retail price for the Venezuelan fuel.
Pennsylvania is the fifth state to receive cheap oil from Venezuela, following shipments to Massachusetts and New York in November, and Maine and Rhode Island earlier in January.
The exports are seen as an attempt by Chavez to embarrass the Bush administration, which the Venezuelan leader says neglects poor Americans.
Flush with cash from soaring oil prices, Chavez has used his nation's petroleum wealth to secure closer ties with South American neighbors while taunting Washington by pushing his socialist ideas as an alternative to U.S. influence.
"This helps Chavez portray America as fundamentally weak," Bruce Everett, a former executive with the Exxon Mobil Corp who teaches petroleum economics at Tufts University, said earlier this month.
"We are supposed to be the world's only superpower, and we're taking charity from a very poor country," he said.
Fadi Kabboul, energy counselor at the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, said the discount shipments had been made out of concern for poor people trying to deal with sharply higher fuel prices this winter.
"This is not for political reasons, this is for humanitarian reasons," he told Reuters.
The U.S. is a major importer of Venezuelan crude oil.
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/arabtimes/breakingnews/view.asp?msgID=11076
PHILADELPHIA, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Some low-income households in the Philadelphia area will get cheap heating oil from Venezuela, officials said on Friday, in the latest snipe by leftist President Hugo Chavez against the U.S. government.
The donations deepen an ongoing spat between Chavez and President George W. Bush, who calls Chavez a threat to democracy in Latin America. Socialist Chavez says Bush is trying to undermine his political support.
The world's fifth-biggest oil exporter will supply 5 million gallons (22.7 million liters) of heating oil starting next month to about 25,000 households that qualify for state home heat assistance but have exhausted their allocation for this winter, said Ron Goldwyn, a spokesman for Rep. Chaka Fattah, Democrat of Pennsylvania.
The households, which will be entitled to as much as 200 gallons (909 liters) each, will have to pay just 60 percent of the retail price for the Venezuelan fuel.
Pennsylvania is the fifth state to receive cheap oil from Venezuela, following shipments to Massachusetts and New York in November, and Maine and Rhode Island earlier in January.
The exports are seen as an attempt by Chavez to embarrass the Bush administration, which the Venezuelan leader says neglects poor Americans.
Flush with cash from soaring oil prices, Chavez has used his nation's petroleum wealth to secure closer ties with South American neighbors while taunting Washington by pushing his socialist ideas as an alternative to U.S. influence.
"This helps Chavez portray America as fundamentally weak," Bruce Everett, a former executive with the Exxon Mobil Corp who teaches petroleum economics at Tufts University, said earlier this month.
"We are supposed to be the world's only superpower, and we're taking charity from a very poor country," he said.
Fadi Kabboul, energy counselor at the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, said the discount shipments had been made out of concern for poor people trying to deal with sharply higher fuel prices this winter.
"This is not for political reasons, this is for humanitarian reasons," he told Reuters.
The U.S. is a major importer of Venezuelan crude oil.