Venezuela offers cheap heating oil to low-income Europeans

Venezuela offers cheap heating oil to low-income Europeans

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Saturday he wants to provide cheap heating oil for low-income Europeans.

The Venezuelan leader worked out a similar deal to deliver discount heating oil this last winter to needy Americans in parts of the eastern United States.

"I'd like to do the same here in Europe," he said Saturday evening at a gathering in Vienna of activists and representatives of social movements and non-governmental groups.

The Alternative Summit was held in parallel to a three-day summit of leaders from the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean that concluded earlier Saturday in the Austrian capital.

"I want to humbly offer support to the poorest people who do not have resources for central heating in winter and make sure that support arrives," Chavez said.

Chavez said Venezuela has two oil refineries in Germany and one in Britain but did not provide further details about which countries could benefit from the proposal.

He added Venezuelan ambassadors in Europe are looking into the matter.

"You Europeans can help us greatly. Your European social networks can make sure the support arrives where it should," Chavez told the conference.

This last winter, Venezuela delivered cut-rate oil to low-income Americans through Citgo, the Houston, Texas-based subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company.