Chavez made the comments on a late-night TV appearance following a tour of Europe, Russia and the Middle East, during which he announced the sale of some Venezuelan oil assets, according to a Reuters report.
"[CITGO] has eight refineries; I don't know how many tanks. It distributes fuel via 8,000 stations in the United [image-nocss] States, yet it makes us no profit," Chavez said with indignation, according to the report.
He stopped short of saying he was seeking to sell CITGO, even as he questioned how much the company should fetch if it were sold along with its refineries and gas stations.
"Imagine if you sell eight refineries. CITGO shouldn't cost any less than $10 billion," he said, according to another report in the Jerusalem Post.
Venezuelan state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) has for years been seeking to nudge Venezuela's oil market away from its heavy reliance on the United States while extending preferential supply agreements to allies. It also has long been trying to offload some of its refineries in Europe and elsewhere that it sees as unprofitable.
CITGO, meanwhile, is celebrating its 100th anniversary (click here for a timeline).(Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage of CITGO's centennial. Andclick here for additional coverage of the company.)
Today, CITGO owns three refineries, more than 40 terminals and supports more than 500 marketers with more than 6,500 locally owned CITGO-branded retail locations in 27 states and the District of Columbia, as well a network of about 200 Fast Lubes.
The company recently unveiled a contemporary new retail street image design that will be made available to all new-to-CITGO locations beginning September 1, 2010, and rebranding across the CITGO network of locally owned retail sites will begin January 1, 2011.
CITGO, based in Houston, is a refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products. The company is owned by PDV America Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of PDVSA, the national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
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