The offer comes as many working people face high fuel prices and heating bills for the winter months. Oil monopolies such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, British Petroleum, and Shell have raked in huge profits as gasoline and diesel fuel prices have skyrocketed.

On November 22, the Venezuelan government signed an agreement with two Massachusetts-based nonprofit organizations—Citizens Energy Corporation and Mass Energy Consumer Alliance—to offer 12 million gallons of heating oil at 40 percent below the market price to 45,000 families that receive federal fuel assistance. The agreement will allow residents with low incomes, as well as shelters, hospitals, and day-care centers, to purchase up to 200 gallons of oil at the discounted price. The oil will be distributed at a Citgo terminal in East Braintree, Massachusetts. Citgo is the U.S. subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA.

The November 25 Boston Globe said the fuel would go to families that have used up their $550 annual federal fuel subsidy.

Some 8 million gallons of discounted heating oil will be sent to the South Bronx. Democratic congressman José Serrano helped broker the deal with Chávez during the latter’s trip here in August.

Serrano told the press that there are challenges in channeling the discounted fuel to low-income residents here, since most of them rent apartments from private landlords, unlike Massachusetts where many are homeowners. The oil is being distributed to properties housing 8,000 residents in the Bronx. “Part of the savings will go directly to tenants in rent credits, with the rest funding tenant-service programs and energy efficient programs,” the Daily News reported December 6.

The U.S. Department of Energy reports that heating oil prices went up to $2.06 a gallon this year from $1.54 a gallon in 2004, and are expected to rise to $2.30 a gallon next year. The cost of natural gas heat has risen by 50 percent since last year.

PDVSA supplies 12-15 percent of U.S. oil imports per year. After Hurricane Katrina, the Venezuelan government offered to send 2.5 million barrels of oil, electrical generators, and water treatment plant equipment to the United States, which Washington refused.
 
 
Related article:
Ruling coalition sweeps Venezuelan elections  
 
 
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