The United Nations recognized the need to protect the world’s diversity of animal and plant species in 1992, when member states adopted the Convention on Biodiversity. It established the Day of Biological Diversity a year later, and in 2010 celebrated the International Year of Biological Diversity.

Venezuela’s Congress on Biological Diversity is taking place at the Universidad Nacional Experimental de los Llanos Occidentales Ezequiel Zamora in the city of San Carlos in the western state of Cojedes. The congress runs until May 26.

Scientists, professors, teachers and others will discuss the conservation of flora, fauna, and their habitats, as part of Venezuela’s decade-long National Strategy to Protect Biological Diversity (2010-2020).

The congress is organized around seven issues including the conservation of endangered species, the sustainable use of biological diversity, the control and management of genetically modified organisms, the prevention of illicit species trafficking, conservation education, environmental legislation, and international policy.

Additionally, workshops and discussions will take in which participants can share experiences.

Jesus Manzanillo, a conference organizer and director of the Environment Ministry’s Office on Biological Diversity, said: “it’s a group where students, professors, scientists, collectives and other actors can report on the results of their research, and give a paper including their conclusions.”

These activities seek to enrich Venezuela’s position at the next United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (also called Rio+20), to be held in June 20-21 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. For this reason, conference participants will also discuss myths surrounding the “green economy” and ways to avoid the commercialization of nature.

Venezuela is among the top 10 countries with the most biological diversity on the planet.

YVKE Mundial / Press Office – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / May 22, 2012

The meeting is presided over by Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro, Oil and Mining Minister Rafael Ramírez, and UNASUR Secretary General María Emma Mejía.

On Monday, Maduro said the discussion would be vital for the regional group, “because from it will emanate a series of proposals, principles and policies for strengthening and recuperating natural resources.”

During the meeting, Venezuela, as head of the South American Energy Council, will present relevant progress. Argentina’s delegation will present a South American Energy Assessment, and the executive secretary of the Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE), Vitorio Oxilia, will speak about the advances seen in the assessment.

A strategic agenda for South American energy policy was approved by leaders at the extraordinary meeting of heads of state and government of UNASUR held in May 2010 in Los Cardales, Argentina. Meanwhile, an action plan for regional energy integration and South American Energy Treaty were developed as part of the UNASUR mandate signed on Venezuela’s Margarita Island on April 17, 2007.

Friday’s meeting is aimed at making progress on regional energy security and the sustainable use of natural resources, Maduro said, “particularly energy resources, which are conceived of as an instrument of sustainable economic progress and social development with equity.”

UNASUR is a regional group officially created in 2008 in the Brazilian capital city of Brasilia. It seeks to foster political, social, economic, cultural, environmental, and infrastructure integration among member states. It became operational last March 11, and includes 12 countries: Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Guyana, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, Uruguay and Venezuela.

AVN / Press – Embassy of Venezuela to the U.S. / May 18, 2012

On Wednesday, the company’s director for eastern production, Ricardo Coronado, cited excellent results in the oil fields of La Ceiba and Franquera, located in the states of Zulia and Trujillo.

“We have two wells with a production of up to 4,100 barrels per day each, which allows the Southern Division of Sur del Lago (Zulia) and Trujillo to reach 6,000 barrels per day above their goal. This effort helps fulfill eastern production commitments of 870,000 barrels of oil per day by 2013,” he said in an interview on oil company’s radio station.

Since 2005, the oil fields of La Ceiba, Franquera and Tomoporo (in Trujillo state) have comprised a new belt of oil and gas reserves in the area and an important step forward, considering that the eastern basin includes mature and declining oilfields.

At Lake Maracaibo, Latin America’s largest inland lake, PDVSA will replace its steel pipelines with flexible ones “to recover lost production of about 60,000 barrels in the lake.”

Coronado explained that this new pipeline will be coated inside with high-density polyethylene, as well as iron and nylon nets (used to transport oil and gas). Its benefits include greater durability (30 years), less failures and better protection of the environment.

The goal is to replace 1,5000 kilometers of pipelines, of which 500 will be replaced by late this year.

“Their sizes vary from 9 to 16 inches. We have already installed 3, 4, and 5-inch pipelines,” he said.

A plant to make flexible pipelines will be built nearby in Cabimas, Coronado said, and this technology can be used in the Orinoco Oil Belt to facilitate the early production of crude.

Additionally, he announced that the PDVSA’s Eastern Division is working on a project to increase gas production south of Lake Maracaibo by drilling wells and boostin production at the Ana Maria Petrochemical Complex from 40 million to 120 million cubic feet of gas per day.

Likewise, 40 steam generators will be purchased to maximize production at the fields of Tía Juana, Lagunillas and Bachaquero.

“Twelve generator are coming from Canada and the rest from China. By August this year, we’ll have 25 generators fully functioning, which will allow us to increase production from 96,000 barrels to 120,000 barrels in each oilfield,” Coronado said.

AVN / PDVSA / Press Office – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / May 17, 2012

“Venezuela, with the political process it is consolidating, guarantees conservation and social inclusion, as well as the execution of environmental policies that guarantee the conservation of the ecosystem,” he said.

Manzanilla also mentioned that delegates from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico will participate in the Third Congress on Biodiversity to be held later this month (May 22 to 27) at Venezuela’s Universidad Ezequiel Zamora in the western state of Cojedes.

He highlighted that Venezuela is casting off neoliberal policies that would commercialize nature.

For more information about the National Strategy for the Conservation of Ecological Diversity, click here.

Correo del Orinoco / Press – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / May 15, 2012

“We are adapting refineries as part of the PlanSiembra Petrolera ["Sowing the Oil"], since most of the resources we currently have and will have in the future come from the oil belt,” said PDVSA’s director of refineries, Jesús Luongo.

The plans include expanding the Puerto La Cruz Refinery with an investment of about $5.3 million, he said, indicating that construction crews have already broken ground.

Luongo said that the “Deep Conversion Project” will be implemented at this refinery so that it can treat heavy and extra-heavy crude from the Orinoco Oil Belt, converting it into lighter and high-quality products.

“This process will allow us to process crude of 30 AP gravity to crude of 22 API gravity,” he highlighted.

The technology used for this process is HDH Plus, a 100-percent Venezuelan catalytic hydrogenation technique developed in 1984 by the Institute of Venezuelan Technology for Oil (INTEVEP).

The HDH Plus technology transforms heavy and residual crude into lighter, high-quality products including diesel and unleaded gas through a hydroconversion process.

Refinery El Palito to Double Its Production Capacity

A plan is also being developed to expand the El Palito refinery in the state of Carabobo to increase its gas production capacity from 140,000 barrels per day to 280,000 barrels per day.

Luongo said that “it will go from processing crude of 29 AP gravity to crude of 22 API gravity from the upgraders of the Orinoco Oil Belt.”

According to the state-run company, over $3 billion is expected to be invested in this project.

Meanwhile, the Paraguaná Refinery Center (CRP) already processes crude from the upgraders of the Orinoco Oil Belt and is “the only center of deep conversion in the country.”

“Crude processing at the Paraguaná Refinery Center reaches 22 API gravity; we process crude from the refineries of Petrozuata, Cerro Negro del Oriente, and even from Boscán of 10 API gravity,” he said.

New Refineries

According to Luongo, Plan Siembra Petrolera also includes the construction of the Refinery Petrobicentenario, a joint venture of PDVSA and the Italian company ENI, at the José Antonio Anzoátegui petrochemicals complex in eastern Venezuela.

This refinery is expected to process about 350,000 barrels per day from the company Petromonagas and the Orinoco Oil Belt’s Junin 5 field. In Guárico state, the Cabruta Refinery is being built, which will process 200,000 barrels of oil per day, he said.

Meanwhile, construction projects at the Batalla de Santa Inés Refinery in Barinas state “are moving forward according to schedule.” The refinery is expected to be finished by early 2013, when over 3.5 million cubic feet of infill are expected to be moved.

The first phase of operations at the Batalla de Santa Inés Refinery should begin in August 2013 to meet the goal of producing 50,000 barrels of gas per day.

According to PDVSA, investment in the project reaches $2.9 billion, which will pave the way for supplying domestic markets in Apure, Portuguesa, Táchira, Mérida and Barinas.

AVN / Press Office – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / May 14, 2012

“The generation capacity installed in 2011 was 1,096 MW and the total generation capacity rehabilitated was 3,262 MW, which means that maintenance operations took place. It’s an important fraction,” Navarro said in an interview with the state-run station Venezolana de Television.

He also recalled that El Niño caused a strong drought in the country that produced problems in the hydroelectric system: “We experienced a drop in generation in 2010, due to the El Niño phenomenon and the drought; we did have electricity rationings and implemented a number of measures in the national government because levels were very low at the Guri Dam.”

Navarro said that “over 6,461 MW were incorporated into the grid from 1999 to 2011. The Bolivarian government has paid a lot of attention to the National Electrical Grid.”

By late 2012, demand will reach 18,603 MW per day. The Venezuelan government currently produces over 13,000 MW, while an additional 6,000 MW will be included this year.

“I’m not saying that our electrical grid has no deficiencies, but we are working hard, making great investments in order to solve those problems and have a reliable electrical grid in the future,” he added.

The minister also responded to claims made by some opposition sectors, saying: “All the comments made by right-wing leaders include the electrical grid as a fundamental issue. Important attacks will come; they are desperately looking for any failure for electoral purposes and create a situation of chaos and psychological warfare.”

Regarding alternative energy, Navarro said that over 50,000 MW of wind power are being installed in the Paraguaná Peninsula and La Guajira, and should begin generating electricity this year.

AVN / Press Office – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / May 8, 2012

“The Venezuelan people can be confident that Corpoelec is committed to offering quality service. The 2012-2015 goal is to have 30,000 megawatts of capacity installed,” he said.

According to the Ministry of Electric Energy, the installed generation capacity is currently 25,000 megawatts, of which 18,000 megawatts are available to cover a demand of 17,000 megawatts.

Villasmil said that from 1999 to 2011, the Venezuelan government added 6,461 megawatts to the national electrical grid – 4,311 megawatts were from thermoelectric energy and 2,150 megawatts from hydraulic systems – “while previous governments only added 3,095 megawatts from 1989 to 1998.”

He indicated that the Ministry of Electric Energy has invested over $7.2 million in the development of a program to improve the electrical grid.

YVKE Mundial / Press Office – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / May 7, 2012

It states: “This law’s regulations apply to natural persons and legal entities for crimes committed both within the territory of the Republic and in foreign countries, if damage or risks of the act are created in Venezuela.”

The Penal Law of the Environment includes principal and accessory sanctions. Principal sanctions include arrest, imprisonment, and the dissolution of legal entities such as dismantling the polluting facility or building. Meanwhile, accessory sanctions include the permanent closure of facilities, 1-year temporary closures, or permanent prohibitions of polluting activity.

The law includes 110 articles and will enter into force 90 days after it is published in the Official Gazette.

Correo del Orinoco / Press Office – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / May 4, 2012

“The national inventory is absolutely normal because it reaches over 52 percent,” he said, speaking at a fuel supply plant in Guatire in the state of Miranda in northern Venezuela.

This plant in Guatire, which supplies gas stations in the Caracas metropolitan area, has 75 percent reserves of 91-octane gas, enough to supply demand for 17 days, as well as 77 percent reserves of 95-octane gas, enough for 14 days. Meanwhile, it has 60 percent diesel reserves that are sufficient for 12 days.

Last week in Caracas, there was an increase in demand for diesel for thermo-electric plants. Therefore, it was necessary to use part of the units of the Company of National Transportation to supply these plants, causing temporary delays for some gas stations in the cities of Caracas, Los Valles del Tuy and Altos Mirandinos, Herrera said.

“Media outlets took advantage of this situation to cause fear among the population, which increased the flow of cars in the gas stations and gas consumption,” Herrera explained.

PDVSA implemented a special plan to solve the situation, including sending trucks to other areas of the country to cover the gas and diesel supply of the Caracas Metropolitan Area.

“Out of the 254 gas stations located in the capital region, just 12 suffered temporary cuts,” he said.

Additionally, the Paraguaná Refinery (located in Falcón state in northeastern Venezuela), the El Palito Refinery (in Carabobo state) and the Puerto La Cruz Refinery (Anzoátegui state) are operating without delays in the production of diesel, gas and other crude derivates, he said.

Normal Shipments

PDVSA’s manager for trade and supply, Ramón Mayaudón, informed that the Guarenas plant is making the 240 shipments per day normally needed to cover the demand for fuel in the metropolitan area of Caracas, which reaches 6.2 million liters per day.

“Out of this 6.2 million [liters], 80 percent is 95-octane gas and 21 percent is 91-octane gas,” he said.

The Guarenas plant has a fleet of 140 trucks, which have a 38,000-liter capacity to transport fuel to gas stations in the metropolitan area of Caracas, thermo-electric plants in Miranda state such as José Maria España and La Raiza, and several industries.

“The fuel is produced in the Paraguaná Refinery Center and arrives by ship to the Carenero plant and then sent through a polyduct [a pipe to transport fuels] to Guarenas,” he explained.

“From here [in Guarenas], trucks that supply gas and diesel to the stations are filled through an automated control system, and all this process is functioning normally,” he said.

AVN / Press Office – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / May 3, 2012

Five years ago on May 1st, 2007, the Venezuelan government finished the process of nationalization of the Orinoco Oil Belt and agreements on risk exploration and shared profits to end the privatization of the Venezuelan oil industry that began in the 1990s.

This process paved the way for guaranteeing Venezuela a majority share of at least 60 percent in the creation of joint ventures to develop oil exploration, extraction and processing in this area, a total of 55,000 km2 in the states of Anzoátegui, Monagas, Guárico and Bolívar. The Orinoco Oil Belt is the site of the world’s largest oil reserves.

The process included the nationalization of 33 cooperative agreements, 11 asociation projects and all the aquatic, drilling and gas operations developed in the Orinoco Oil Belt.

Five years ago, at an event with the workers of the José Antonio Anzoátegui Industrial Complex in Anzoátegui state, President Hugo Chávez said that the nationalization put an end to oil privatization under previous governments, which offered transnational companies the possibility to control operations in the Oil Belt.

Since 1987, oil exploration had been developed by foreign consortiums like the U.S. firms Exxon Mobil, Neron, Dupont Conoco, Amoco, LL&E and Benton, British Petroleum and Spain’s Repsol. Under this scheme, the country saw oil revenues of just $23.4 billion over ten years.

“The oil opening was nothing less than an attempt to definitively take the largest and most powerful natural wealth away from Venezuelans, the attempt by imperialism to take over the world’s largest oil reserves forever,” Chávez said.

Nationalization Process

On February 26, 2007, the executive branch of the government announced a law to migrate old agreements to joint companies and association agreements of the Orinoco Oil Belt, as well as agreements on risk exploration and shared profits.

With the development of the policy of oil sovereignty, it was possible to readjust and reorganize the collection of royalties and taxes from the hydrocarbon sector.

“We guaranteed that the country would have fair profits like other nations of the world, by increasing the royalty rate from 1 percent to 33 percent. Previously, for each 100 produced oil barrels, they [the transnational companies] would take 99 [percent] and the Venezuelan people would take 1. This figure became the lowest rate ever paid in the world for oil exploration,” said Oil Minister Rafael Ramírez.

Ramírez explained that oil revenue taxes were also adjusted from 34 to 50 percent and an extraction tax of 33 percent was established, as well as taxes for export registration of 0.1 percent, a superficial tax equivalent to $2,000 per square kilometer or a fraction of the superficial area given for exploration activities.

Between 2001 and 2011, the amount of oil taxes collected reached $356.76 billion, compared to $23.4 billion in the previous decade.

Certification of Reserves

The Orinoco Oil Belt was considered by the old PDVSA board members as a source of bitumen, a semi solid, highly viscous hydrocarbon commercialized in international markets at the prices of carbon (a quarter of the value of oil).

Nevertheless, when Project Magna Reserva was implemented in 2005, it was possible to certify and quantify the oil reserves in the belt, which currently reach 297.57 billion barrels, the largest on the planet.

“Now we can take advantage of these reserves according to the nation’s development plans and not any transnational plan. Over $354 billion has been collected in oil revenues for the benefit of all Venezuelans, which would otherwise be taken away by transnational companies,” Ramírez said.

Ramírez, who is also president of PDVSA, the state oil company, said that between 2001 and 2011, the company allocated $123.4 billion for the development of social programs, while investments in this area up to 1999 totaled $30 billion.

In 2011 alone, PDVSA allocated over $30 billion to finance social projects.

Additionally, last year, PDVSA’s contributions to the Great Housing Mission reached $4 billion, while funds allocated for social projects and the National Fund for Development (FONDEN) stood at $11.5 billion and $14.4 billion respectively.

AVN / Press Office – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / May 1, 2012