Logistics questions stall Petrocaribe
Several Caribbean nations who signed on for a Venezuelan program to supply them oil under long-term financing say they have not received oil a year later because they do not have the ability to handle the shipments, an Associate Press report says.
The report said eight of the 13 Caribbean countries who signed an agreement referred to as Petrocaribe have not received any oil shipments. The agreement allows the countries to buy Venezuelan oil under preferential terms, with payments for only part of the oil and the option to finance the rest over 25 years at a low interest rate. Governments can also cover part of the costs with exchanges of services or goods, such as rice and bananas. Venezuela also said it would help by providing storage tanks and docking facilities.
But a year after the June 29, 2005 agreement, the report said, the program has gotten bogged down because many governments don't have state-owned docking or storage facilities for oil, or the expertise in running an oil business, because those services have previously been handled by private companies.