Venezuelan oil 'bounces back'

Venezuelan oil 'bounces back'

Chavez announced Venezuela had returned to pre-strike production levels

The Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, has said the country's oil production has reached normal levels after falling to record lows during a general strike which ended last month.

Mr Chavez said production reached almost three million barrels per day, which, he said, should allay the fears of Venezuela's international clients.

He also said the giant Paraguana refinery would return to full operational capacity within a few days.

Venezuela was the world's fifth largest oil exporter before the strike, which severely affected oil production but failed to bring about early elections.

Paraguana, one of the world's biggest oil complexes, handled nearly a million barrels per day before the strike.

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"Good news," President Hugo Chavez announced from the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas.

"Oil production in Venezuela has today reached 2.95 million barrels per day.

"This is extraordinary news," he added, noting that the crisis-stricken nation, only recently out of a devastating general strike, had managed to increase production to target levels "much faster than expected".

Under its agreement with the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), Venezuela's oil production quota is about 2.8 million barrels per day.

The country's oil industry was badly hit by the strike by opposition leaders that ran from December to February and was aimed at forcing the populist Chavez from power.