US embassy cable - 04CARACAS1879

C O N F I D E N T I A L  CARACAS 001879 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
NSC FOR TSHANNON AND CPARTON 
ENERGY FOR DPUMPHREY AND ALOCKWOOD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/31/2014 
TAGS: EPET, PGOV, KDEM, VE 
SUBJECT: MYSTERIOUS GASOLINE SHORTAGE AFFECTS EASTERN 
CARACAS 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Charles S. Shapiro; for reasons 1.4(b) and (d 
) 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1. (C) A gasoline shortage affected the eastern, primarily 
opposition, portion of the city of Caracas over the weekend 
of May 29-30.  The shortage mysteriously coincided closely 
with the days of the appeal process for the presidential 
referendum.  While Minister of Energy and Mines Rafael 
Ramirez attributed the shortages to "technical failures in 
the billing process," representatives of U.S. companies that 
operate brand name service stations in Venezuela tell us that 
Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) claimed not to have received 
their product orders.  We suspect the GOV sought to make the 
opposition signature appeal more difficult by cutting off the 
gasoline.  End Summary. 
 
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OUT OF GAS 
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2. (U) On Saturday, May 29, the residents of eastern Caracas 
(generally opposition) once again woke to find themselves 
facing gasoline shortages.  Some service stations began 
running out of unleaded gasoline on Saturday and were 
completely out of products as of Sunday night May 30 or 
Monday morning May 31.  These dates coincided with the May 
28-30 dates of the presidential referendum signature appeal 
process.  Addressing the press on May 31, Minister of Energy 
and Mines Rafael Ramirez attributed the shortages to a 
technical failure in the billing system at the Guatire plant 
that administers gasoline to Caracas.  According to Ramirez, 
the dispatch of gasoline had stopped because of this 
technical failure. 
 
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OUT OF CREDIBILITY 
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3. (C) Econoff contacted ChevronTexaco and ExxonMobil, both 
of which have downstream operations in Venezuela, to discuss 
the situation on June 1.  ChevronTexaco Downstream Manager 
Mauricio Pulido informed econoff that the ten Texaco brand 
service stations in the eastern part of the city of Caracas 
had all run out of fuel between Sunday night and Monday 
morning.  ExxonMobil Government Relations Manager Carlos 
Rodriguez also confirmed that Mobil brand stations in east 
Caracas, including the Mobil station across the street from 
ExxonMobil's corporate offices, had run out of product on 
Sunday, May 30.  Pulido reported that the Texaco stations had 
all received fuel as of Monday night and service had returned 
to normal which was again echoed by ExxonMobil's report. 
Pulido added, however, that deliveries to Texaco stations in 
west Caracas continued as normal through the weekend. 
 
4. (C) In direct contradiction to Minister Ramirez's press 
comments, Pulido said that when ChevronTexaco contacted 
Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) about the suspension of 
services during the weekend, PDVSA claimed it had not 
received ChevronTexaco's product orders.  When ChevronTexaco 
responded that it had proof of confirmation that PDVSA had 
received the orders, PDVSA said the products would be 
dispatched -- which did not happen until Monday night. 
ExxonMobil's Rodriguez added that despite repeated calls to 
PDVSA on Monday, no one had answered the phone. 
 
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COMMENT 
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5. (C) Venezuela's gasoline dispatch system has been more 
fragile since the end of the December 2002-February 2003 
strike.  Caracas, in particular, has been affected because 
the number of gasoline trucks serving the city has been cut 
in half since the strike.  Despite this we do not believe 
there is any way to attribute the suspension of service to 
half the city to "technical reasons."  We suspect the GOV 
sought to make the opposition signature appeal more difficult 
by cutting off the gasoline.  If so, they started too late to 
 
 
have an impact. 
SHAPIRO 
 
 
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      2004CARACA01879 - CONFIDENTIAL