The Venezuelan government is considering extending the operation which sells cheap heating oil to social projects in the United States, Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Monday.

Ramirez made the remarks after the US-based gasoline Citgo, a subsidiary of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), made its first delivery of subsidized heating oil last Tuesday to New York City's poor Bronx neighborhood.

Ramirez, who is also president of Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA, said: "We are going to continue increasing supply in the Bronx, New York, and let us see how those so far successful pilot plans go."

In November, Citgo began to distribute 44.4 million liters of fuel in Boston and more than 30 million liters in the Bronx, according to PDVSA figures.

"The program is costing us 200 million US dollars, but high fuel prices are allowing us to keep it running," Ramirez said.

The subsidized sales had not been requested by the US government, he said. "We have made agreements with senators in Chicago and New York and with the community groups."

Ramirez said PDVSA had a policy of trying to help the poorest in society, in the United States, in Central America and in the Caribbean with special programs. "Because we understand that the price is too high for some economies and for some people," he said.

Source: Xinhua