Alaska to get cheap Venezuelan oil

Despite the falling price of oil, Venezuela’s government has continued to provide low-cost heating oil to the U.S. The program had been suspended in January after three years of selling inexpensive heating oil though it will be renewed. The latest area to receive help is, ironically, the oil-rich state of Alaska:

Millions of dollars in free heating fuel will flow through Alaska villages early next month courtesy of a controversial giveaway program paid for by the Venezuelan government.

The sooner the better, say many villagers and rural nonprofits who appear more concerned about their towering energy bills than international politics.

"The whole town, we've been waiting all winter," said Margaret Schaeffer of Kiana, an Inupiat village of about 380 people where heating fuel costs $6.64 a gallon.

The program is run by CITGO which is owned by Venezuelan state-run oil company PDVSA. Critics of the plan allege that it’s all a “political ploy” and propaganda run by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. (“Mister Danger” may be out of the White House, for instance, though that hasn’t stopped Chavez criticism of the U.S. government).

To some Alaskan community leaders, however, the program has helped defray expensive heating costs especially in light of the current recession. “Some have written thank-you notes for last year’s free fuel, saying things like the program ‘saved me money so it was the first year I was able to purchase extra fishing nets’” mentioned Alaska Inter-Tribal Council director Brad Garness in one local daily.

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Online Sources- adn.com, newsminer.com, The Latin Americanist, IHT