Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Saturday promised Paraguay's new leftist president a steady supply of fuel to prevent shortages that could cause civil unrest. Ex-priest President Fernando Lugo will receive “all the oil Paraguay needs” from Venezuela, Chavez said. Venezuela's state oil company said later that an accord signed by the two leaders guarantees Paraguay up to 23,500 barrels of oil and derivatives daily. Paraguay's daily consumption of oil products in July was 27,410 barrels of oil products daily, according to the US Energy Department. The poor South American nation has no reserves and depends solely on imports for its petroleum needs. Petroleos de Venezuela SA did not say in its statement how much oil it already provides to Paraguay, or give any breakdown on what sort of an increase the new guaranteed supply might represent.
