General Interest news briefs, July 13

July 13, 2000
Mexico and Venezuela renew San Jose Oil Facility; Pakistan offers to train Iraqi petroleum engineers; majors discuss investment in Saudi Arabia.


Mexican and Venezuelan officials have agreed to recommend another 1-year renewal of the so-called San Jose Oil Facility program that guarantees crude oil supplies to 11 Central American and Caribbean nations, Venezuela�s Energy and Mines Ministry said Thursday. The ministry said a bilateral governmental monitoring committee of the accord met in Caracas Wednesday and proposed that Presidents Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico and Hugo Ch�z of Venezuela announce the renewal Aug. 3 when the pact marks its 20th anniversary. Under the program, Mexico and Venezuela supply about 160,000 b/d of oil to Barbados, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Dominican Republic under special financing conditions. The oil facility program has been renewed annually since it first took effect Aug. 3, 1980.

Pakistan has offered training facilities to Iraqi engineers working in the oil and gas sector. The offer was made by Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources Usman Aminuddin during a recent official visit to Iraq on the invitation of Iraqi Minister of Oil Gen. Amir Mohammed Rasheed. The training would be provided to the Iraqi engineers at Pakistan's oil and gas institutes, said a statement issued July 11. The two sides held discussions to identify areas of possible cooperation and collaboration in the oil and gas sector, including exploration and Pakistan's possible purchase of crude oil from Iraq.

Representatives of several major international oil companies met with government officials in Riyadh this week to discuss investment prospects in Saudi Arabia's oil and gas sector, reports the OPEC News Agency. In attendance were Chevron Corp., Enron Corp., ExxonMobil Corp., Occidental Petroleum Corp., Phillips Petroleum Co., Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and Texaco Inc.