HAVANA (Reuters) -- Venezuela and Cuba are to be joint operators of a
                  Soviet-built oil refinery on the south coast of the Caribbean island, Cuban
                  state media said Sunday.

                  In a report from Caracas, the Cuban news agency, Prensa Latina, quoted
                  Cuba's Foreign Investment Minister Marta Lomas as saying the two sides
                  were discussing what form the joint operation of the Cienfuegos refinery
                  should take. It could involve a joint-venture company, the agency added.

                  The report was also carried by Cuban television and in Sunday's edition of
                  the communist youth daily Juventud Rebelde.

                  Lomas spoke Saturday to reporters in Caracas after meeting Venezuelan
                  Foreign Minister Jose Vicente Rangel. She also briefed local businessmen on
                  investment opportunities in Cuba.

                  The 76,000-barrel-per-day refinery at Cienfuegos port on Cuba's
                  south-central coast has remained largely unused since its completion at the
                  start of the decade with financial and other help from the former Soviet
                  Union.

                  Communist-ruled Cuba has suffered severe energy shortages since the
                  collapse of the former Soviet bloc and has been importing the bulk of its
                  crude-oil and oil-product needs.

                  A 1994 initiative to start up the Cienfuegos refinery that involved a group of
                  Mexican investors was not successful.

                  Since Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took office earlier this year,
                  Venezuela has said it is willing to cooperate with Cuba in oil deals, including
                  the supply of crude. Chavez is a self-described revolutionary and an admirer
                  of Cuban President Fidel Castro.

                  Prensa Latina quoted Lomas as saying that Cuba could sell Venezuela
                  products from the island's biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry.

                     Copyright 1999 Reuters.