Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his government is prepared to provide billions of dollars to help build a Brazilian refinery that will process Venezuelan crude when it starts operating in 2010.
But after he met for hours on Wednesday with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, plans by the two nations for expanded energy cooperation -- with the refinery as an example -- seemed nebulous at best.
Reporters were called to a news conference for a joint declaration by the two leaders to outline their energy plans, only to be told later that they would not make a statement until yesterday.
Then the state-run oil companies of Brazil and Venezuela released details of an agreement on the refinery that only vaguely outlined such specifics as ownership and operation.
Brazil's Agencia Estado news service quoted an executive with state-run oil company Petrobras predicting it would take at least two months to sign a contract.
Chavez put the potential amount of Venezuelan investment in the refinery at US$4 billion.
But his declaration of that amount was confusing because Brazilian authorities have said the facility will cost US$4.05 billion to build with a majority of the capital provided by Petrobras, which has already started construction.
Chavez did not elaborate while speaking with reporters at the airport in Recife before heading on a tour of the refinery construction site with Lula.
Brazil's Foreign Ministry could not immediately provide clarification, and Petrobras officials at the site of the meeting between Lula and Chavez provided no details.
Chavez and Lula three years ago laid the cornerstone for the refinery, which was originally to be funded 60 percent by Petroleo Brasileiro, and 40 percent by Petroleos de Venezuela.
But negotiations stalled over joint construction and operation, and last year Petrobras started to build the facility on its own without any Venezuelan capital.
The refinery is expected to process 200,000 barrels of oil daily initially, with half coming from Venezuela and half from Brazil. Daily capacity could eventually rise to 400,000 barrels, officials said.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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