Monday, March 24, 2008

Chavez announces draft bill to apply a tax on sudden profits obtained by oil enterprises

Caracas, Mar 24 (Prensa Latina) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced Monday the draft bill to apply a tax on sudden profits obtained by oil enterprises, is now ready.

"Only the percentages are still without definition," said the Venezuelan President after he stated the idea was mentioned by Economy Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz. He pointed out that foreign oil enterprises in Venezuela and even local state enterprise PDVSA are earning more money than they expected.

"These additional incomes come from the increase in crude oil prices and has its origin in factors outside new investments, or extraordinary efforts," he stated. The high price of oil responds to geopolitical and financial aspects, among them the fall of the US dollar, he said.

Data from the Venezuelan Energy and Oil Ministry showed that from January 2008 to date, the standard Venezuelan crude oil basket reached 88.75 dollars a barrel, which is very much over the 35 dollars a barrel scheduled by the national 2008 budget.





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