Venezuela to Expand Petrochemicals Production, Chavez Says

Venezuela, the fourth-biggest supplier of crude oil to the United States, will expand its petrochemicals industry during the next five years, lifting annual revenue to $100 billion, President Hugo Chavez said.

By 2013, the industry will have created 700,000 jobs, 10 times the number employed at state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, requiring $20 billion in investment, Chavez said today during his Sunday television program “Alo Presidente.”
“Venezuela is going to be a global petrochemicals power,” Chavez said, according to an e-mailed statement.

The president began today a so-called petrochemical revolution, which will require 87 plants across the country to produce primary materials and petrochemicals-based products like fertilizers, plastics and cosmetics.

“This is going to generate several industries,” Energy and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said in comments broadcast by the Globovision television station.

Bloomberg