HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ----- Original Message ----- From: Jose G. Perez Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2001 7:36 PM Subject: New Venezuelan Oil Law Defended ======================================================================= Sunday December 16 12:08 PM ET
New Venezuelan Oil Law Defended CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - OPEC's secretary general, a former Venezuelan oil minister, defended a new oil law against claims that it will discourage investment by increasing the state's role in the industry. The new law will ensure fiscal security for the government by increasing royalty rates, Ali Rodriguez said in an interview published Sunday in local daily El Nacional. Royalty rates, unlike income taxes, are not susceptible to volatile oil prices because they are made the moment a barrel is extracted. Foreign oil executives warn the new rates, which are the highest in the world, will make many new projects unaffordable. The government insists the steeper royalty rates will be offset by lower income taxes. ``Royalties are increasing but income taxes are lowering ... We are not increasing fiscal pressure but we are (increasing) fiscal efficiency,'' said Rodriguez, who was President Hugo Chavez's oil minister until he became secretary general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in January. Business leaders virtually shut down Venezuela on Monday with a one-day nationwide strike to protest the Hydrocarbons Law and 48 others that Chavez passed under special powers that allowed him by bypass parliamentary debate. Rodriguez acknowledged that the oil law should have been debated more broadly, but dismissed claims that investors will be deterred by a requirement that state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA hold a majority stake in future exploration and exploitation projects. ======================================================================= To subscribe to CubaNews, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://TOPICA.COM/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================ |
