U.S OIL TAX WOULD NOT AFFECT PDVSA-CHAMPLIN DEAL
an eventual oil import fee in the
united states will make no difference to champlin petroleum
corp's joint venture agreement signed today with petroleos de
venezuela (pdvsa), champlin chairman william adams said.
    "this was an aspect which was discussed at length during the
negotiations, but we can say our contract covers all
eventualities in this regard," he told reuters during the
signing ceremony here.
    Venezuela's energy and mines minister arturo hernandez
grisanti earlier described the agreement, under which pdvsa
buys 50 pct of champlin's corpus christi refinery, as "one more
step in the maturation and presence of our oil industry in
world markets."
   union pacific chairman william cook said the agreement will
be beneficial to both sides, combining a secure source of
supply with a modern refinery and access to markets.
    "we are looking to a long-term relationship, and at a time
of protectionist tendencies in the U.S. Congress there are
clear benefits to both sides," he said.
    Adams said pdvsa crude would remain competitive even with
an oil import fee because champlin had invested heavily over
the years in adapingthe texas refinery to process venezuelan
heavy crudes with coking and hydro-treating facilities and
obtain a competitive product yield.
    "therefore while the danger of an oil import fee has been a
consideration in the negotiations, and it remains to be seen
what such a fee would represent, we do not foresee any impact
on today's agreement," adams said.
    He said the refinery could run crude as heavy as
venezuela's bolivar coastal field (bcf) 17 api without any
difficultiesand would probably move over time to a heavier diet
to take advantage of bigger margins.
    The refinery has a capacity to process up to 110,000 bpd of
venezuelan high sulphur content heavy crude, with an 80-85 pct
yield of white products.
 Reuter
