Venezuela to sell oil to Portugal in exchange for food, technology, Chavez says
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CARACAS, Venezuela: Venezuela announced plans Tuesday to ship oil to Portugal in exchange for food products and other goods that have been running short in the South American country.
Venezuela, Latin America's largest oil producer, will send as many as 30,000 barrels of crude a day to Portugal by late 2008, President Hugo Chavez told reporters after meeting with Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates.
That amount equals less than 1 percent of Venezuela's average daily oil output last year, but is still worth US$1 billion (€650 million) at today's prices, Chavez said. He said he hoped Portugal would repay the full amount "with technology, food, and other goods and services" rather than cash.
Venezuela has suffered sporadic food shortages in recent years, with basic products including milk, sugar and eggs sometimes hard to find. Given those shortages, Venezuela agreed to provide crude to GALP Energia, Portugal's state-controlled energy company, in exchange for soy oil, pasta and 5,500 tons (5,000 metric tons) of powdered milk from three different Portuguese producers.
The deal is one of 14 accords signed Tuesday by the two nations' leaders. Others call for Venezuela and Portugal to work together to exploit natural gas reserves off Venezuela's coast and to certify oil deposits in Venezuela's eastern Orinoco River basin.
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Countries including Iran and China already have partnered with Chavez's government to explore the Orinoco area, considered the world's largest known single oil deposit.
Chavez said he hoped Venezuela's proven reserves would more than double to 300 billion barrels next year, from 130 billion barrels currently.
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