Venezuela to provide London with cheap oil

LONDON, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Venezuela signed an agreement with Britain to provide cheap oil for London's public transportation buses in exchange for advice on urban planning in Caracas.

According to the agreement signed by London Mayor Ken Livingstone and Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, Venezuelan state-run petroleum company PDVSA will knock off up to $32 million from the city's annual bill totaling nearly $200 million.

London will reportedly use the savings to offer half-price bus fares to a quarter million poor Londoners, a move considered par for the course for the London leader known as "Red Ken."

"This is an incredibly generous offer by the president of Venezuela," said Livingstone following the agreement's signing. "This builds on work his government is doing across the world to tackle poverty."

Venezuela has reached out to several U.S. cities in recent years offering discounted oil for heating the homes of the elderly on fixed incomes as well as the poor.