Although the Venezuela-owned Citgo Petroleum Corporation had decided to stop distributing gasoline to 2,000 gas stations in the United States, Venezuela had no plans to reduce its oil supply to the U.S., the country's energy minister said on Friday.

"The suspension of oil supply has nothing to do with any alleged reduction in refining capacity, or any decision to reduce the petrol sent to the United States, nor with any decision to withdraw Citgo from the country," Rafael Ramirez, Venezuela's energy minister, told the state television company VTV, responding to earlier press reports.

Ramirez said that in order to honor the terms of contracts signed in the past, Citgo had to buy 130,000 barrels of gasoline per day to supply the 2,000 stations.

Thus, keeping the stations running would incur further unnecessary losses for Citgo, he said.

Citgo is owned by the Venezuelan state energy company Petroleos de Venezuela. The company owns eight refineries in the United States, which serve around 10 million clients daily.

Ramirez said that Citgo had also decided to sell one of its U.S. refineries, because it did not have what was needed to process Venezuela's heavy crude.

Under the same plan, Citgo is seeking to sell two unprofitable asphalt plants.

Venezuela is the world's fifth largest oil producer and America's third largest oil supplier. The country produces 3.1 million barrels of crude oil per day.

Source: Xinhua