Venezuela could sell some oil assets in US

Venezuela's state oil company is considering selling some of its assets in the United States, the country's top oil official said Wednesday.

Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, could sell some assets of its Houston-based subsidiary, Citgo Petroleum Corp.

"When we have a sure sale, we will announce it," Ramirez said in remarks carried by the state-run Venezuelan News Agency.

President Hugo Chavez on Monday called Citgo a "bad business" for his government, saying it does not deliver enough dividends. He questioned how much the company would fetch if it were sold along with its refineries and thousands of US service stations, and said he guessed it should be worth at least US$10 billion.

Ramirez reiterated that Citgo "is a terrible business".

Citgo owns three refineries in the US and distributes fuel through a network of more than 10,000 gas stations.

The United States remains Venezuela's No. 1 oil client. But Chavez has for years been seeking to nudge Venezuela's oil market away from its heavy reliance on the US while extending preferential supply agreements to allied nations.

Ramirez's comments came after Chavez recently agreed to sell PDVSA's share of the Ruhr Oel Refinery in Germany to Russia's Rosneft oil company for US$1.6 billion.

- AP