Agencia Venezolana de Noticias, 5 de febrero 2019
http://www.avn.info.ve/contenido/presidente-maduro-sanciones-unilateral…
Caracas, 05 Feb. AVN. The unilateral and illegal measures imposed on Citgo by the U.S. government do not represent a victory for the White House, so Venezuela will continue to take legal action, said President Nicolás Maduro of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
In an interview with RT, the president assured that Venezuela does not depend on these revenues, but will continue to take legal action. "We are fighting a battle for justice, but Venezuela has the ability to sell its oil in therest of the world," Maduro said.
The main role of Citgo, a subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) in the U.S., is the refining of heavy crude exclusively from Venezuela, making it unlikely that the refineries could be operated in U.S. territory without Venezuelan crude.
"Now that oil that we were selling to Citgo, if they want to take it, they have to pay in cash in Venezuela's oil port to be able to take out the shipments," said the president.
He specified that previously the ships left the Venezuelan port and the corresponding payment was made by letter of credit 30 to 60 days later. "Now it has to be in cash," he said.
On the other hand, he reaffirmed that the government expects to significantly increase oil production in the first half of 2019, going from 1.5 million barrels currently produced to 2.5 million barrels per day.
Achieving this goal would allow Venezuela to have the necessary and sufficient income to promote economic recovery.