HiddenMysteries: Chavez: "The world is entering an energy crisis because oil is running out!"

Venezuela is planning to increase oil production from the current 3.2 million barrels per day (bpd) to five million barrels in 2012, President Hugo Chavez has said.

"We'll take it there on pace with prices because for us it's more important to maintain the correct price of oil than to flood the market," Spanish news agency EFE quoted Chavez as saying during his weekly Sunday address.

The Venezuelan leader has repeatedly said that the current price of oil was "fair" and that he did not expect the upward price trend to reverse itself.

"The world is entering an energy crisis because oil is running out," said Chavez.

The Venezuelan leader also said the government would invest $18 billion to expand natural gas production from seven billion cubic feet per day to 11 billion cubic feet per day over the next five years.

"We are launching the socialist gas revolution," he said, adding that Venezuela has 80% of South America's total gas reserves and 30% of the entire Americas.

Venezuela has proven gas reserves of "150 trillion cubic feet on dry land" and another "30 trillion cubic feet offshore", said the Venezuelan President.

Chavez said last Friday that the world had to get used to paying a fair price for oil and that he expected the price of a barrel of crude to reach $100.

Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest exporter of crude, is in the process of certifying its reserves, which preliminary estimates put at 316 billion barrels, making them the largest in the world.

http://www.vheadline.com

Chavez: "The world is entering an energy crisis because oil is running out!"

Wednesday, September 19 2007 @ 08:47 AM CDT