VOL. XLI

No. 10

9-March-1998

OPEC

The Effects Of Low Oil Prices On The Venezuelan Economy

The following is the text of a memo recently prepared and distributed to clients bythe Washington-based Petroleum Finance Company Ltd. (PFC).

The economic outlook for Venezuela has changedsubstantially in the past few months since the onset of weaker oil prices. Crude oilprices have fallen sharply during the last three months and the average export price forVenezuelan crude is now running close to $12.0/B....