Venezuela and Brazil reach agreement to invest US$3.5 billion in energy pr

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President Hugo Chavez Frias has stressed that, with a joint investment of US$3.5 billion, Venezuela and Brazil have reached agreement to exploit 50 billion barrels of crude oil from the Carabobo I field ... which currently holds some 300 billion barrels of crude oil in proven reserves.

To develop the project, both nations are expected to invest 50% according to an agreement signed during Chavez' visit to Brasilia last week, during which he attended the 1st South American Community of Nations summit.

On his 235th ’Alo, Presidente’ radio and television broadcast from the Miraflores Presidential Palace, the Venezuelan leader emphasized that the agreement aims at fostering Latin American integration and energy rapprochement with Brazil through PetroAmerica and PetroCaribe refineries.

President Chavez said a series of bi-national agreements signed between both countries would bring social and economic benefits to South America. "I don’t give anything away, I just apply a different model!" he told reporters.

* Likewise, President Chavez said that both countries have pledged jointly to build the Pernambuco refinery in Brazil.

http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=46226

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1. Why Can't We Have a Real Leader? (nt)

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2. Chavez says oil gives Venezuela 'strong card' to play against US

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BUENOS AIRES (AFX) - Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez boasted in an interview Sunday that his country has a 'strong oil card' to play in its contentious relations with the US, and said its hand will be even stronger if other Latin American countries join it in a regional economic alliance.

'In Venezuela, we have a strong oil card to play on the geopolitical stage, and we're going to play it clearly in the interests of regional integration,' Chavez told the daily Clarin newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.

'It is a card that we are going to play with toughness against the toughest country in the world -- the United States,' Chavez said.

He stressed that Venezuela's actions will always be governed by 'transparency and respect'.

Chavez' remarks followed the first meeting last week of the South American Community of Nations in Brazil's capital, Brasilia.

He said Venezuela's hand has been strengthened by spiraling oil prices.

'We are confronting an energy crisis that can't be ignored: oil production is dropping and the price is rising,' he told Clarin.

http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2005/10/03/afx2255354.html