Venezuela to Boost Petrochemical Offerings

CARACAS, Venezuela
Venezuela will sharply increase production of petrochemicals in the next several years to become a world leader in the industry, President Hugo Chavez said Saturday.

Chavez remarks came as state petrochemical firm president Saul Ameliach announced a plan to increase output from 11.5 million metric tons (12.7 million tons) to 32 million metric tons (35 million tons) a year by 2012.

"Venezuela has what it takes to be a world power in petrochemicals, and we're going to be just that," Chavez said at a swearing-in ceremony for new board members of Corporacion Petroquimica de Venezuela SA, commonly known as Pequiven.

Ameliach announced investments of nearly $5.4 billion in 22 petrochemical projects, including construction of new plants and upgrades to existing ones. Officials previously had spoken of plans to invest some $3.9 billion in the next six years.

Chavez began the event helping to shovel out cement to start construction on a new plant that will produce ammonia and urea in the north-central state of Carabobo.

Chavez rattled off a long list of products that oil-producing Venezuela can manufacture with its petrochemicals, from fertilizers to plastics. He said Pequiven aims to increase its earnings tenfold, from $1.2 billion today to some $12 billion within six years.

Chavez, who says he is leading Venezuela toward socialism, evoked a phrase that he ascribed to Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong, saying Venezuela's petrochemical industry "has started to walk with its own legs ... and later it will fly with its own wings."
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