(Jamaica Gleaner) Jamaica has made a formal offer to purchase Venezuela’s 49 per cent stake in the Petrojam oil refinery.
Energy Minister Dr Andrew Wheatley made the announcement in a post on Twitter.
He said the offer was made yesterday at a meeting in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela.
A high-level team comprising Wheatley, Foreign Affairs Minister Kamina Johnson Smith and technocrats went to Venezuela to make the offer.
Venezuela owns the 49 per cent of Jamaica’s sole refinery through its state-run entity PDVSA.
The Jamaican government decided to seek to buy the Venezuelan stake because of delays upgrading the aging Petrojam refinery.
The upgrade has been delayed for many years and has become even more uncertain with the economic downturn and political instability in the South American country.
