Venezuelanalysis reports: Contradicting recent reports about the program's discontinuation, the U.S.-based and Venezuelan-owned CITGO Petroleum Corporation confirmed the continuation of its U.S. heating oil program, said CITGO CEO Alejandro Granado during a press conference here today with Citizens Energy Chairman Joseph P. Kennedy II.
“Our flagship social program, the CITGO-Venezuela Heating Oil Program will continue. This decision is the result of a strong commitment and a big effort on the part of CITGO and our shareholder in light of the current global financial crisis and its impact on the oil industry in general,” said Granado.
Meanwhile, Kennedy pointed out that he is “personally aware of President Chavez’s genuine concern for the most vulnerable, regardless of where they may live.”
“Evidence of this is that President Chávez wanted all necessary efforts made to ensure the continuation of the program, so that its recipients will not be disappointed,” Kennedy added.
“This decision is a clear, direct message from President Chávez of his desire to strengthen relations between his country and the United States, particularly at this time, when a new U.S. administration is scheduled to be sworn-in within the next few weeks,” Kennedy noted.
Because of the falling price of crude oil over the last several months, CITGO had been forced to evaluate all its social programs, including the heating initiative.
Last year, the heating oil program provided some 200,000 households in 23 states with fuel, including over 65 Native American tribes and large low-income housing cooperatives in New York City. In addition, the CITGO funds provided heating grants to over 210 homeless shelters in 14 states. The 2008-2009 heating season marks the fourth year of CITGO’s donations.
CITGO Petroleum Corporation, an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., the national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, has been the only major oil company providing substantial heating assistance to low-income Americans during the dramatic price rises in heating costs during the last several years.
Income-eligible households interested in getting up to 100 free gallons of heating oil can call the toll-free hotline number 1-877-JOE-4-OIL starting Jan. 19 to apply for the assistance. Citizens Energy will send out authorization letters to approved households, who then contact their local dealer to arrange deliveries.
Showing posts with label humanitarian aid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label humanitarian aid. Show all posts
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Venezuela to donate more heating oil to U.S. poor
By Jason Szep
BOSTON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Standing on the deck of an oil tanker in Massachusetts Bay on Monday, Venezuelan energy officials kicked off the third year of a controversial program of delivering subsidized home-heating oil for the U.S. poor.
A Houston unit of a state-owned company backed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a foe of the Bush administration, will supply oil at 40 percent below market prices in 23 states, an expansion from 16 states last year.
The donations by Citgo Petroleum Corp, owned by Venezuelan state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela, are worth about $147 million at market prices.
Deliveries began arriving at homes just as a deadly ice storm swept the U.S. Plains and many Americans start to grapple with record heating bills to heat this winter.
"This is the biggest social program any oil company has ever done in this country," Citgo Petroleum president Alejandro Granado told reporters at a port in Braintree, Massachusetts.
"We didn't stop and think about politics. We need to share a little bit of our tremendous profits."
Flush with funds from soaring oil prices, Chavez has used Venezuela's petroleum wealth to secure closer ties with South American neighbors and in 2005 proposed the U.S. heating oil program to trim costs for America's poor -- a group he says President George W. Bush's government has neglected.
Chavez, who last year called Bush "the devil" in a speech to the United Nations, has called the heating oil donations "humanitarian aid" although Venezuela's per capita income is about 1/10th that of the United States.
The conservative editorial page of The Wall Street Journal harshly criticized the program last year for assisting "an anti-American tyrant at the expense of the Venezuelan people".
But Joseph Kennedy, a former Democratic congressman whose nonprofit Citizens Energy Corp is a major distributor of the heating oil, said the program has nothing to do with politics.
"The politics side of this is absurd," said Kennedy, the nephew of former president John F. Kennedy.
He noted that more than 10 percent of U.S. gasoline supplies come from Venezuela anyway, along with most of the heating oil and jet fuel in the United States.
"No one is saying any of that should be given up," Kennedy told Reuters. "The only time this discussion comes up is when we're talking about discounted heating oil for the poor."
"The price of oil has gone up 130 or 140 percent in the last four years and there are now hundreds of thousands of low-income folks who need this oil," he said.
Venezuela, the world's No. 5 crude exporter, supplies about 15 percent of U.S. oil imports.
The Venezuelan heating oil program comprises 112 million gallons of oil and is intended for 235,000 families drawn from low-income home energy assistance programs in the 23 states.
"To the degree that they have reduced the cost to the elderly and those who cannot afford it, this program is a good thing," said Sarah Emerson, managing director at Energy Security Analysis in Wakefield, Massachusetts.
BOSTON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Standing on the deck of an oil tanker in Massachusetts Bay on Monday, Venezuelan energy officials kicked off the third year of a controversial program of delivering subsidized home-heating oil for the U.S. poor.
A Houston unit of a state-owned company backed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a foe of the Bush administration, will supply oil at 40 percent below market prices in 23 states, an expansion from 16 states last year.
The donations by Citgo Petroleum Corp, owned by Venezuelan state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela, are worth about $147 million at market prices.
Deliveries began arriving at homes just as a deadly ice storm swept the U.S. Plains and many Americans start to grapple with record heating bills to heat this winter.
"This is the biggest social program any oil company has ever done in this country," Citgo Petroleum president Alejandro Granado told reporters at a port in Braintree, Massachusetts.
"We didn't stop and think about politics. We need to share a little bit of our tremendous profits."
Flush with funds from soaring oil prices, Chavez has used Venezuela's petroleum wealth to secure closer ties with South American neighbors and in 2005 proposed the U.S. heating oil program to trim costs for America's poor -- a group he says President George W. Bush's government has neglected.
Chavez, who last year called Bush "the devil" in a speech to the United Nations, has called the heating oil donations "humanitarian aid" although Venezuela's per capita income is about 1/10th that of the United States.
The conservative editorial page of The Wall Street Journal harshly criticized the program last year for assisting "an anti-American tyrant at the expense of the Venezuelan people".
But Joseph Kennedy, a former Democratic congressman whose nonprofit Citizens Energy Corp is a major distributor of the heating oil, said the program has nothing to do with politics.
"The politics side of this is absurd," said Kennedy, the nephew of former president John F. Kennedy.
He noted that more than 10 percent of U.S. gasoline supplies come from Venezuela anyway, along with most of the heating oil and jet fuel in the United States.
"No one is saying any of that should be given up," Kennedy told Reuters. "The only time this discussion comes up is when we're talking about discounted heating oil for the poor."
"The price of oil has gone up 130 or 140 percent in the last four years and there are now hundreds of thousands of low-income folks who need this oil," he said.
Venezuela, the world's No. 5 crude exporter, supplies about 15 percent of U.S. oil imports.
The Venezuelan heating oil program comprises 112 million gallons of oil and is intended for 235,000 families drawn from low-income home energy assistance programs in the 23 states.
"To the degree that they have reduced the cost to the elderly and those who cannot afford it, this program is a good thing," said Sarah Emerson, managing director at Energy Security Analysis in Wakefield, Massachusetts.
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