Analysis: Venezuela oil row over rights

MIAMI, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- A recent clash between Venezuelan oil workers and authorities has prompted Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez to assure the workers that a new contract will be completed in the coming weeks despite the fact that the negotiations have been ongoing since April.

Ramirez, who is also the head of the state-run petroleum company PDVSA, said the government is not against the workers but is rather working toward improving the agreement that is mutually beneficial.

"We are working for an agreement that is good for workers and good for the state," Ramirez said following last week’s unrest.

Last Thursday ire over the delayed agreement erupted into violence when workers from two different refineries tried to present Ramirez with a document listing their demands and were intercepted by police in Anzoategui state.

Three workers were reportedly injured in clashes with police and 40 others arrested, according to local news reports.

PDVSA issued a statement saying it would investigate the incident and condemned the violence perpetuated by both sides.

Critics of Ramirez and the Venezuelan state oil company say the government is trying to dissolve the hundreds of oil workers unions in hopes of creating a unified federation that would ultimately weaken the bargaining power of the labor force operating the country’s most lucrative export.

In the aftermath of the Anzoategui incident, Ramirez said oil workers would receive increased salaries and other benefits; however, other demands by the workers in last week’s clash would have to be evaluated on a point-by-point basis.

Workers said that protests could continue until their final agreement is hammered out in the coming weeks.

This is the first time the energy minister has been at the center of a firestorm over his handling of PDVSA.

In August, Ramirez was fined for instructing PDVSA to support President Hugo Chavez.

Venezuela’s National Election Council fined Ramirez nearly $9,000 for telling employees that it would be a “counterrevolutionary act” not to support the leftist Chavez.

Ramirez’s remarks, caught on videotape, were reportedly made ahead of the December 2006 presidential election, which Chavez won handily.

The PDVSA president is also accused of telling employees that a colleague had already lost his jobs for what was deemed a traitorous act against Chavez.

Ramirez denied any wrongdoing and insisted he didn’t break Venezuelan laws that stipulate state-run agencies like PDVSA cannot back any one candidate.

Some experts say Ramirez’s recent actions illustrate his and Chavez’s quest to wrest full control of the sector.

“There are strong concerns (in the United States) that some employees at PDVSA are getting higher positions in PDVSA because of their professed loyalty to Chavez,” David Pumphrey, a senior energy fellow at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, told United Press International.

Meanwhile, the majority of revenue from the continent’s largest oil and gas reserves is going towards funding Chavez’s wide-ranging social programs, with little being spent to maintain and improve PDVSA's existing infrastructure, Pumphrey added.

Concerns about the long-term health of PDVSA come at a time when Chavez has sought to take full control of the Venezuelan petroleum sector.

In August, Ramirez announced the country was keen on creating its own “Halliburton” to develop the country’s fields and reduce dependency on foreign firms.

"We can have our own Halliburton, ours, the Bolivarian one,” said the PDVSA head, referring to Simon Bolivar, the 19th century general who helped several Latin American countries win independence, including Venezuela.

Venezuela’s pledge to improve its oil production follows a recent report that Latin America’s largest oil producer was suffering from equipment shortages responsible for waning production levels.

In July, Luis Vierma, exploration and production vice president at PDVSA, said Venezuelan oil faces a "significant operational emergency" if it does not increase the number of rigs operating in the country and that the state firm fell short of its 2007 goal of getting 191 rigs online in 2007 and producing some 3.3 million barrels per day.