This article was originally posted by Reuters Africa
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has threatened to cut off oil supplies to the United States in case of any military attack by Colombia as a row escalates over charges that Venezuela harbors leftist Colombian guerrillas.
Despite his heated rhetoric, the former paratrooper has never followed through on several previous threats to stop U.S. shipments. But energy ties between the two nations have become increasingly tense in recent years.
FALLING EXPORTS
* The United States is the Latin American OPEC member’s top customer, and Venezuela is currently the fifth biggest U.S. supplier after Canada, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Nigeria. The volume of Venezuelan crude shipped to the United States has fallen 39 percent to 1.08 million barrels per day (bpd) last year from a peak of 1.78 million bpd in 1997, the U.S. Energy Information Administration says. (r.reuters.com/hyp99m)
* The decline is partly due to increasing sales by Caracas to customers such as Cuba, China and Iran, as well as stagnating production by Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.
* U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration, for its part, wants to develop an energy policy that reduces foreign oil dependence.
THREATS TO SUPPLIES
* Chavez first warned back in February 2004 that he would shut off Venezuelan oil supplies to the United States if it tried to invade the Andean nation or impose a trade blockade against his country — after he accused former U.S. President George W. Bush’s administration of backing a short-lived coup attempt against him in 2002. The following month, he backed away from the threat and said he did not have any intention of damaging relations with Washington.