MYSTERIOUS GASOLINE SHORTAGE AFFECTS EASTERN

C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 001879

SIPDIS


NSC FOR TSHANNON AND CPARTON
ENERGY FOR DPUMPHREY AND ALOCKWOOD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/31/2014
TAGS: EPET PGOV KDEM VE
SUBJECT: MYSTERIOUS GASOLINE SHORTAGE AFFECTS EASTERN
CARACAS


Classified By: Ambassador Charles S. Shapiro; for reasons 1.4(b) and (d
)

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SUMMARY
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1. (C) A gasoline shortage affected the eastern, primarily
opposition, portion of the city of Caracas over the weekend
of May 29-30. The shortage mysteriously coincided closely
with the days of the appeal process for the presidential
referendum. While Minister of Energy and Mines Rafael
Ramirez attributed the shortages to "technical failures in
the billing process," representatives of U.S. companies that
operate brand name service stations in Venezuela tell us that
Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) claimed not to have received
their product orders. We suspect the GOV sought to make the
opposition signature appeal more difficult by cutting off the
gasoline. End Summary.

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OUT OF GAS
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2. (U) On Saturday, May 29, the residents of eastern Caracas
(generally opposition) once again woke to find themselves
facing gasoline shortages. Some service stations began
running out of unleaded gasoline on Saturday and were
completely out of products as of Sunday night May 30 or
Monday morning May 31. These dates coincided with the May
28-30 dates of the presidential referendum signature appeal
process. Addressing the press on May 31, Minister of Energy
and Mines Rafael Ramirez attributed the shortages to a
technical failure in the billing system at the Guatire plant
that administers gasoline to Caracas. According to Ramirez,
the dispatch of gasoline had stopped because of this
technical failure.

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OUT OF CREDIBILITY
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3. (C) Econoff contacted ChevronTexaco and ExxonMobil, both
of which have downstream operations in Venezuela, to discuss
the situation on June 1. ChevronTexaco Downstream Manager
Mauricio Pulido informed econoff that the ten Texaco brand
service stations in the eastern part of the city of Caracas
had all run out of fuel between Sunday night and Monday
morning. ExxonMobil Government Relations Manager Carlos
Rodriguez also confirmed that Mobil brand stations in east
Caracas, including the Mobil station across the street from
ExxonMobil's corporate offices, had run out of product on
Sunday, May 30. Pulido reported that the Texaco stations had
all received fuel as of Monday night and service had returned
to normal which was again echoed by ExxonMobil's report.
Pulido added, however, that deliveries to Texaco stations in
west Caracas continued as normal through the weekend.


4. (C) In direct contradiction to Minister Ramirez's press
comments, Pulido said that when ChevronTexaco contacted
Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) about the suspension of
services during the weekend, PDVSA claimed it had not
received ChevronTexaco's product orders. When ChevronTexaco
responded that it had proof of confirmation that PDVSA had
received the orders, PDVSA said the products would be
dispatched -- which did not happen until Monday night.
ExxonMobil's Rodriguez added that despite repeated calls to
PDVSA on Monday, no one had answered the phone.

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COMMENT
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5. (C) Venezuela's gasoline dispatch system has been more
fragile since the end of the December 2002-February 2003
strike. Caracas, in particular, has been affected because
the number of gasoline trucks serving the city has been cut
in half since the strike. Despite this we do not believe
there is any way to attribute the suspension of service to
half the city to "technical reasons." We suspect the GOV
sought to make the opposition signature appeal more difficult
by cutting off the gasoline. If so, they started too late to


have an impact.
SHAPIRO


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2004CARACA01879 - CONFIDENTIAL