PARAMARIBO–The oil deal Suriname signed in March last year has borne its first fruit. The first 40,000 barrels of oil arrived in Paramaribo last Wednesday. Suriname has 60 days to pay part of the bill; the remaining 40 percent is due in 20 years.

The profitable deal frees money Suriname can spend on poverty eradication; Suriname and Venezuela jointly agree which projects will be funded. “This means development without Government having to tap into the country’s coffers,” Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Lackin said.

The deal also frees Suriname from the dependence on gas imports from Trinidad. The PetroCaribe gas will be sold through SOL and SuriTex gas stations, at market price.

The arrival of the first barrels of oil has meanwhile stirred up gas station owners; they say they should now be allowed to pay later as well for gas they sell. Gas prices are regulated by Government and the gas stations levy the Government tax on fuel. “Government doesn’t have to do a thing to collect those funds. We’re the ones who have always run the biggest risks in this business, so it’s reasonable that Government eases up on us, now that they don’t have to pay immediately themselves,” Sirodjenie Jankie, chairman of the union of gas station owners said.

Suriname and Venezuela signed for this arrangement on March 24th 2011, for Venezuelan oil company PetroCaribe supplying Suriname with fuel. PetroCaribe has similar arrangement with several Caribbean countries; it allows the Caribbean nations to buy oil on market value, but only a certain amount is needed up front;

The deal foresees in a 25 year financing agreement on 1% interest. It allows for the Caribbean nations to purchase up to 185,000 barrels of oil per day on preferential terms and nations can pay part of the cost with other products provided to Venezuela, such as bananas, rice, and sugar.

MERIDA, Venezuela– The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) of which Suriname became a member earlier this year, has taken a wait-and-see stance on the regional rejection of the U.S. government’s decision to impose unilateral sanctions against Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). The U.S. government accuses the Venezuelan firm of sending two cargo ships to Iran delivering $50 million US worth of reformate – a gasoline blending component used to improve the quality of gasoline.

It weren’t just the Venezuelans who the US gave a slap on the wrist. Six other international firms were also sanctioned; PCCI (Jersey/Iran), the Real Oyster Group (United Arab Emirates), Speedy Ship (United Arab Emirates/Iran), Tanker Pacific (Singapore), Ofer Brothers Group (Israel), and Associated Shipbroking (Monaco). All are accused by the U.S. of helping to “facilitate Iran’s efforts to evade U.S. sanctions.”

UNASUR is monitoring the situation but has not adopted an official standpoint yet. Suriname joined this body in January this year. Suriname also in March this year signed a covenant with Caribbean oil alliance PetroCaribe that will see the alliance supplying Suriname with fuel.

Venezuela Analysis reports that the US sanctions on the Venezuelan oil company met region wide opposition; on Wednesday May 25th the Latin American nations that make up the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of the Americas (ALBA) expressed their “most firm” collective rejection of the U.S. sanctions imposed on PDVSA. They went on to insist that the U.S. “bring a definitive end to its acts of aggression against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and show an unrestricted respect for the decisions taken by our countries in the exercise of our national sovereignty.”

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PARAMARIBO–Suriname and Venezuela on Thursday March 24th signed a covenant that will see oil company PetroCaribe supplying Suriname with fuel. The deal also concerns cooperation on the fields of rice production and low cost housing, a source close to government revealed.

Former army colonel Etienne Boereveen (right) signed on behalf of the Suriname Government, in his position of Advisor to President Desi Bouterse. Venezuela’s Vice Minister of Energy and Petrol Ivan Corella signed on behalf of his country.

The signing came at the close of a visit by a delegation from Venezuela, that followed up on the November 26th 2010 agreement between President Bouterse and President Hugo Chavez. Executives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs from both countries, as well as Suriname Agriculture Ministry, Suriname State Oil Company and Energy Company EBS took part. The Venezuelan delegation also comprised executives of from the Alba Bank and the Venezuelan Embassy in Paramaribo.

The deal between the two heads of state saw PetroCaribe supplying Suriname with gas and eureum (a fertilizer used in rice production) and Venezuela supporting the construction of low-cost housing in Suriname.

The supply of fuel through the Caribbean oil alliance PetroCaribe comes at a time when Suriname motorists are complaining about having to pay skyrocketing prices for gas. The company allows enabled several Caribbean nations to buy oil on market value but only a certain amount is needed up front; twelve of the fifteen members of CARICOM (including Suriname) plus Cuba and the Dominican Republic signed the agreement on 7 September 2005.

The deal foresees in a 25 year financing agreement on 1% interest. It allows for the Caribbean nations to purchase up to 185,000 barrels of oil per day on preferential terms and nations can pay part of the cost with other products provided to Venezuela, such as bananas, rice, and sugar.

PARAMARIBO, Suriname — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez agreed Friday to supply fuel to Suriname under preferential terms and said he hopes to build a close alliance with its newly elected leader, Desi Bouterse. Chavez’s pledge to ship diesel and other fuel under Venezuela’s Petrocaribe program was one of four agreements signed. He also agreed that Venezuela will help Suriname on housing projects and rice farming, and send urea for fertilizer.

“We’re here because we want to ally ourselves. … We want to unite our nations,” Chavez said. “I’d say these four accords today are an initial map.” Many Caribbean countries benefit from Petrocaribe by receiving part of their fuel shipments from Venezuela on credit.

Bouterse, who was elected by lawmakers as president of this former Dutch colony earlier in the year, presented Chavez with a painting depicting four legendary figures: Malcolm X, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and Mohandas K. Gandhi. Chavez called them “four fighters of this same path of the human cause.” He gave Bouterse a painting depicting South American independence hero Simon Bolivar.

“I urge the people of Suriname to support this man,” Chavez said of Bouterse. “The Venezuelan people and my government support him.”

Source: AP