VENEZUELA WANTS TO BOOST ITS REFINING CAPACITY

  Venezuela's state oil
  company Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. wants to raise its
  worldwide refining capacity by 150,000 barrels of per day, a
  company official attending the National Petroleum Refiners
  Association meeting here said.
      He declined to be identified but said PdVSA has the
  capacity to refine about 650,000 bpd of crude oil from refining
  centers
  in Venezuela, Sweden, West Germany, Belgium, and the United
  States. The company recently purchased a 50 pct stake in the
  Corpus Christi, Texas refinery of Champlin Petroleum Co, a
  subsidiary of Union Pacific Corp &lt;UNP>.
      Earlier it bought a similar stake in the Lake Charles, La
  refinery owned by Citgo Petroleum Corp, a unit of Southland
  Corp &lt;SLC>.
       According to the official, Venezuela is searching
  worldwide for the additional refining capacity but he did not
  mention where the company was looking. 
      Refineries abroad, he said, guarantee a refining outlet for
  Venezuelan crude oil while ensuring stability of supply to
  refiners.
      He said Venezuela currently  produces about 1.4 mln bpd of
  crude oil, which is in line with its 1.495 bpd OPEC ceiling.
  

