LATIN OIL PRODUCERS TO MEET IN CARACAS
Five regional oil producing nations
will gather in Caracas tommorrow for a two-day meeting expected
to center on ways to combat proposals for a U.S. tax on
imported petroleum, the Venezuela's ministry of energy and
mines said.
    Oil ministers from Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, Ecuador and
Venezuela will be on hand for the fifth meeting of the informal
group of Latin American and Caribbean Petroleum Exporters,
formed in 1983, it said. Colombia will also attend for the
first time, as an observer nation, the ministry said.
    Energy and Mines Minister Arturo Hernandez Grisanti said
the conference has no set agenda but one entire session Friday
will be devoted to proposals for a tax on imported oil.
    Two of the group's members, Venezuela and Mexico, are
second and third largest foreign suppliers of oil to the United
States, respectively, following Canada.
    Venezuela, concerned about the effect such a tax would have
on its exports, undertook a diplomatic push to coordinate
strategy against such measures. In February, Canadian Energy
Minister Marcel Masse was invited to Caracas for talks with
Hernandez on proposals for an oil import tax.
 Reuter
