CUBA
NEWS
Yahoo!
Cuba, Venezuela to Refurbish Oil Refinery
By Anita Snow, Associated
Press Writer. April 11, 2006.
HAVANA (AP) -- Communist Cuba is deepening
its relationship with oil-producing Venezuela,
forming a joint venture to refurbish an
idled Soviet-era oil refinery in central
Cuba, the two countries said Tuesday.
President Fidel Castro and Venezuelan Oil
Minister Rafael Ramirez were at the ceremony
Monday night where officials signed the
contract between the two nations' state
oil companies, the Communist Party newspaper
Granma said. Venezuela's oil company issued
a similar statement.
Cuba will hold 51 percent of the new joint
venture, to be called PDV-CUPET SA, with
Venezuela holding the remaining 49 percent.
The agreement fulfills a letter of intent
signed last year by Castro's government
and the administration of Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez under their own vision for a
regional trade agreement, the Bolivarian
Alternative for the Americas. Cuba and Venezuela,
so far its only members, hope to expand
it to include other countries.
Neither Granma nor the Venezuelan announcement
gave financial details. But last year, an
executive of the state firm Petroleos de
Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, said the project
would cost between US$60 million (euro50
million) and $100 million (euro83 million)
.
Alejandro Granado, PDVSA's director of
refining, said at the time the rehabilitated
Soviet-era refinery could open as early
as June 2007 and would initially process
65,000 barrels of crude daily.
During a news conference Tuesday to mark
the fourth anniversary of a short-lived
coup attempt against his older brother,
President Chavez, Venezuelan Ambassador
Adan Chavez said that the two countries
soon will form three other joint ventures:
a publishing company and firms to produce
music recordings and films.
Adan Chavez said the joint ventures are
"agreements for cooperation in our
America. No one is trying to take advantage
of the other."
The Cuba-Venezuela pact is an alternative
to the Washington-backed Free Trade Area
for the Americas, which Castro and Hugo
Chavez say is a U.S. effort to "annex"
Latin America.
The new petroleum joint venture will rehabilitate
an idled Soviet-era refinery in the central
city of Cienfuegos on Cuba's southern coast
to refine, store and distribute crude oil.
The announcement comes as trade rapidly
increases between the two political allies.
Cuba-Venezuela trade is projected to reach
more than $3.5 billion (euro2.9 billion)
this year, Adan Chavez told The Associated
Press here during an exclusive interview
here last week.
That's up 40 percent from the $2.5 billion
(euro2 billion) in trade in 2005, the ambassador
told the AP on Friday. He quoted slightly
lower trade estimates during the Tuesday
news conference.
The bulk of trade comes from the 90,000
barrels of crude petroleum that oil-producing
Venezuela sends to the communist-run island
daily.
Cuba Signs Agreement to Buy Aircraft
HAVANA, 10 (AP) -- Cuba will buy five Russian
aircraft for use in the island's growing
programs to provide social and health services
to impoverished people around the region,
official media reported.
The official Prensa Latina news agency
on Monday carried several photographs of
President Fidel Castro meeting with Russian
officials, including Boris Alyoshin, head
of the Federal Industry Agency, when the
agreement was announced in Havana.
The purchase agreement was signed by representatives
of Cuba's Civil Aeronautics Institution
and the aircraft manufacturer Ilyushin Finance
Co.
Prensa Latina did not say how much the
two IL 96-300 and three TU 204-100 passenger
jets would cost, reporting only that the
Russian aviation firm would provide Cuba
with financing.
The IL 96-300 is a long-haul, wide body
passenger airplane that can carry up to
289 passengers to a distance of up to 13,500
kilometers (8,400 miles), according to an
Ilyushin Finance Co. web site.
The TU 204-100 is a mid-range aircraft
for 210 passengers. One of those three planes
will be used for cargo, Prensa Latina said.
The news agency said the five aircraft
will join two other IL 96-300 passenger
jets recently purchased for solidarity missions
such as "Operacion Milagro" --
or Operation Miracle in English. The Cuban-Venezuelan
program provides free eye operations to
needy people from around Latin America.
| 
