Chavez addresses nation after surgery

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez kisses a Venezuelan flag at Miraflores Presidential Palace in the capital Caracas on July 4, 2011.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/187592.html

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has addressed the nation after returning home from Cuba where he underwent a surgery to remove a cancerous tumor.

The 56-year-old Venezuelan chief executive gave a speech from the balcony of Miraflores Palace in the capital Caracas on Monday, Reuters reported.

Chavez waved a Venezuelan flag and expressed gratitude to his supporters, who packed the capital's main square to give him a hero's welcome.

"Long live Venezuela... Long live the Venezuelan people! Long live the union of Latin America, long live Fidel, long live Cuba, long live life!" Chavez said during his speech.

The popular Venezuelan president flew back to Caracas before dawn on Monday, a day before the South American country celebrates the 200th anniversary of its independence.

"This is time for life, this is the time of the bicentenary motherland, this is the time for the final independence of our country," he went on to say.

Earlier on Sunday, thousands of Venezuelans staged a huge rally in Caracas to show support for Chavez, where they waved flags, beat drums and chanted “Long live Chavez!”

The Venezuelan chief executive, who has been in office for more than a decade, plans to run for re-election in 2012 and serve at least one more six-year term. He has focused on implementing wide-ranging reforms in the country during his presidential tenure.

Venezuela cuts ties with US over Iran

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/183454.html

Venezuela has severed its relations with the US after Washington imposed sanctions against Venezuela's state-owned oil company for supplying gasoline to Iran.

According to examiner.com, Venezuela officially “froze” relations with the United States on Sunday, a top diplomat from President Hugo Chavez's government said.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro also hinted that re-establishing relations with the US would be "impossible."

On May 24, the US imposed sanctions against Venezuela's giant oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) for providing Iran with gasoline and other refined oil products.

Under the sanctions, PDVSA is denied US government contracts and banned from Washington's export financing.

Maduro had earlier described the sanctions as “illegal, abusive measures taken by this weak government of the United States.”

Venezuela's Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez, who is also the head of PDVSA, said on May 25 that Venezuela would continue to maintain relations with Iran and any other country it wants.

"This is a right we are not going to renounce," Ramirez said.

Approximately 26 percent of Venezuela's imports are from the United States. Venezuela is one of the United States' main suppliers of petroleum, selling it about 1 million barrels of oil per day.

The UN Security Council adopted a fourth round of sanctions against Tehran in 2010 under intense pressure from the US, which claims Iran's nuclear program may have potential military aspects. Iran has repeatedly refuted the allegations.

Shortly after the UN sanctions, the US imposed fresh unilateral sanctions against Iran's financial and energy sectors, encouraging other countries to abandon investment in the Iranian market.

Under the imposed measures, US firms are banned from carrying out trade exchanges, importing from and exporting goods to Iran and making ventures in the country.

Foreign banks and corporations doing business with Iran could be denied access to the US Export-Import Bank, their ability to sell in the US market would be restricted, and would be denied US government contracts.

Iran says that as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it has a right to use the peaceful applications of nuclear energy for electricity generation and medical research.

Iran to open biggest oil refinery in ME

Shazand Oil Refinery (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/162338.html

The biggest oil refinery in the Middle East will be inaugurated in Iran on the occasion of the 32nd anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution, reports say.

Two projects with an estimated investment of $ 3.5 billion at the Shazand Oil Refinery in the central Iranian city of Arak the will be officially inaugurated by the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during the 10-day celebrations commemorating the anniversary of the Islam Revolution Victory (30 Jan -11Feb), Mehr news agency reported on Thursday.

The new development plans at the oil refinery, which will increase the oil production capacity of the country to more than 17 million liters per day, are focused on reduction of sulfur and other pollutants in order to get Euro-5 standard in production of petrol for cars.

The Euro-5 is one of the European emission standards which define the acceptable limits for exhaust emissions of automobiles. The emission standards are defined in a series of European Union directives staging the progressive introduction of increasingly stringent standards.

Another significant plan is the production of the Propene, also known as Propylene, which is a waste product created when crude oil is refined into gasoline, diesel fuel and other products.

In December, the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company Managing Director Farid Ameri said that Iran will increase its fuel storage capacity by 5 billion barrels to reach over 16.7 billion liters.

The current storage capacity of oil products in the country is around 11.5 billion liters, but it will reach 16.7 billion liters by the end of the Fifth Five Year Development Plan (2010-2015), he added.

Russia's LUKoil ceases gasoline supplies to Iran

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122740&sectionid=351020103

Russian oil giant LUKoil has stopped shipping gasoline to Iran, following fears of US retaliation.

Previously, the company shipped between 250 and 500 thousand barrels of gasoline to Iran every month, reported Russia's RIA Novosti news agency.

Although sitting on vast oil and gas reserves, Iran's gasoline refinery output has not kept pace with the growing number of cars in the country. The country therefore imports a proportion of its required gasoline from abroad.

Recent unilateral US sanctions have focused on punishing international companies that supply gasoline to Iran.

Speaking on April 3, the head of Iran's Committee for Transportation and Fuel Management said Iran was capable of becoming self-sufficient in gasoline production during the current Iranian year (ending March 20, 2011).

"Iran's gasoline consumption stands at 62 million liters (16.38 million US gallons) per day, of which 45 million liters (11.89 million US gallons) are produced domestically," said Mohammad Rouyanian.

"In normal circumstances, we would not become self-sufficient in gasoline production this year, but, if certain conditions, such as sanctions are created, then we can increase our gasoline production to meet domestic demand and this can happen by the end of the year, and even during the first quarter of the new [Iranian] year (June 21)," he added.

Last month, LUKoil announced it was quitting a project in Iran's Anaran oil field.

'With new refineries Iran will export gasoline'

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117476§ionid=351020103


Iran plans to build seven new oil refineries with a capacity of 1.6 million barrels that could turn the country into a gasoline exporter.

Iran's official news agency, IRNA, in a report announced that the production of gasoline by the new refineries will not only meet domestic demand, but could result in sufficient production to turn the country into an exporter of gasoline.

The largest refinery, the "Persian Gulf Star", will be built in the city of Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf with an estimated production of 35.6 million liters of gasoline per day.

The "Shahriar" refinery that is to be built in the northwestern city of Tabriz will be able to produce 8.1 million liters of gasoline daily.

Five additional refineries will be built, with a second installation in Bandar Abbas, and Shiraz and Abadan completing the locations in southern Iran, and a production center in the western city of Kermanshah and the northern province of Golesatan.

The plan to construct the new refineries comes as the US has already imposed sanctions targeting Iran's gasoline imports as part of Washington's efforts to apply pressure to Tehran over its nuclear program.

Tehran has repeatedly declared that Western sanctions are not able to force it to relinquish the legitimate nuclear rights of the Iranian nation.