CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez said Sunday his
                 country would help the United States deal with its ongoing energy crisis
                 by guaranteeing a reliable supply of crude oil and increased refining
                 capacity.

                 "Venezuela is willing and capable of continuing to help the people of the United
                 States with a reliable oil supply, as we have done for close to a century," said
                 Chavez, speaking during his weekly radio program "Hello President."

                 Chavez' statements came a day after he visited Venezuelan state-owned oil
                 refineries in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Corpus Christi, Texas.

                 "In Corpus Christi we ratified our decision to continue increasing our safe and
                 reliable oil supply to the United States," said Chavez.

                 Citgo, a wholly owned subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company,
                 Petroleos de Venezuela SA, plans to invest $200 million to increase refining
                 capacity by 100,000 barrels per day at its Lake Charles refinery.

                 Calling U.S. President Bush's new energy plan "extraordinary," Chavez added
                 that Venezuela is also studying the possibility of supplying the United States with
                 orimulsion, a coal-like residue left over from the oil refining process that is used
                 as an industrial boiler fuel.

                 Bush is looking for ways to increase his country's supply of energy.

                 Venezuela is the third largest producer of oil within the Organization of
                 Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, and the largest supplier of crude to
                 the United States. OPEC produces 40 percent of the world's oil.

                  Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.