Venezuela to maintain oil at 3.1 mbd

Leading South American oil producer Venezuela will maintain daily output of 3.1 million barrels of crude in 2012, a top energy official said Wednesday. The number is roughly the same to Venezuela's average daily oil production in 2011 and will help Venezuela maintain its fiscal revenues, Energy and Petroleum Minister Rafael Ramirez told the National Parliament's Finance Committee, which currently are debating the 2012 national budget. The national budget in 2012, which has already received preliminary approval of the parliament, reaches 69.264 billion U.S. dollars, a big jump of 45 percent from 2011. A total 22.8 percent of Venezuela's national budget, or the equivalent of 15.7 billion dollars, are generated by oil revenues. The numbers are made on assumptions of economic growth of five percent and inflation of 20 to 22 percent. Ramirez said that in the last 10 years Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has used over 125 billion dollars from oil revenues for investments in social programs. The oil revenues are calculated based on an expected average minimum price of crude at 50 dollars per barrel. A founding member of OPEC, Venezuela produces an average of three million barrels of crude per day. It was the world's eighth biggest oil producer in 2009, according to the International Energy Agency.