Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, May 10 -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, in an apparent attempt at extending an olive branch to Colombia, suggested that its state-owned Ecopetrol SA should become a partner in the Orinoco oil region.
"As a matter of fact, I could propose that Colombia come here to [participate in] the Orinoco oil region, even as it brings down oil production at home," if it wants to, Chavez said over television.
Chavez's invitation coincided with reports that Venezuela's state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) is buying three times more natural gas from Colombia than originally agreed upon.
PDVSA is buying about 150 MMcfd of natural gas from Colombia through the 224-km pipeline inaugurated last October. PDVSA had originally offered to buy 50 MMcfd of gas this year.
Relations 'solid'
According to Julio Cesar Vera, the Colombian Energy Ministry's director for hydrocarbons, the increased purchases clearly show that the relationship between Colombia and Venezuela is solid.
He said the supply of gas did not decline, despite Chavez's threats to end the energy agreements between both countries after diplomatic clashes led to a serious political crisis.
At the time, tension flared between the two nations after Colombia sent military forces into Ecuador to fight members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces for Colombia, or FARC.
Following the incursion, a laptop computer said to have been captured from a FARC leader yielded documents suggesting that Chavez's government was supporting the guerillas against Colombia.
Venezuelan authorities claimed the contents of the computer were faked by Colombia. But a US government probe into the documents announced May 9 that they appeared to be authentic.
Chavez's ties to the Colombian rebels are deeper than previously thought, a US intelligence official said following an analysis of files on a dead guerrilla leader's laptop.
The files also are said to indicate that Venezuela offered to arm the rebel group, possibly with rocket-propelled grenades and ground-to-air missiles, as well as the use of a port to receive arms shipments.
In a published interview, Bernardo Alvarez, Venezuela's ambassador to the US, on May 7 said the computer files were false and an attempt to discredit the Venezuelan government.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].
