Oil 'could surge to $200'

2005-09-06 08:09

Caracas - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned on Monday that world oil prices would surge to $200 a barrel if the United States attacked his country.

"If they attack us with their battleships, with waves of intelligence officers, bombs, marines and all of that, well, you can forget about oil," Chavez said in a CNN interview released by the Information Ministry.

Chavez, who charged that the United States was drafting a plan to attack his South American nation, said that an invasion would leave Venezuela and the Americans without oil.

"The barrel could reach $200, from one day to the other," said the leftist leader, who has accused the United States of wanting to assassinate him. The price closed at just under $65 in London on Monday.

"The US government can forget about the 1.5 million barrels of oil that we send every day and contributes enough to its development," said Chavez, who has threatened to cut off oil exports in case of US aggression.

Venezuela is the fourth-largest provider of oil to the United States.

"We are preparing for the resistance," he said.

"Terrorists who live in the United States are planning my death," the former paratroop officer added.

Despite the antagonism between Caracas and Washington, Chavez on Sunday said his country would send one million barrels of gasoline to the United States to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.

- AFP