Venezuelan Gasoline Arrives in Houston

Citgo Petroleum Corp. received a shipment of 240,000 barrels of gasoline Monday at the Port of Houston.

Citgo's parent company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, sent the shipment as part of its pledge to provide 1 million barrels of gasoline to help alleviate fuel shortages in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

"We are doing our utmost to keep supplies to the market and fight any price speculations," said Citgo CEO Felix Rodriguez.

The company's refinery in Lake Charles, La., remains shut down after being pummeled by Rita. But Citgo refineries in Corpus Christi, Texas, and Lemonth, Ill., continue to operate.

Those refineries are "all the more important as we do everything we can to prevent product shortages from becoming any more acute," Rodriquez said.

The gasoline from PDVSA will be distributed through the Eagle and Colonial pipeline systems, which serve Texas and the Southeast.

Houston-based Citgo is a refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels and other refined products.