Energy
Venezuela's government promised to invest USD 1.5 billion in Curacao's Isla refinery, which has been shut down for the last 10 days due to power failures, a refinery spokesman told Curacao newspapers on Wednesday.

The project, aimed at improving productivity and quality of byproducts manufactured by Curacao's 320,000 bpd refinery, will run from 2011-2015, said refinery spokesman Kenneth Gijsbertha to Curacao newspapers Extra and Vigilante.

A Curacao court ruled last year that the state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) must upgrade the aging refinery, which was opened early last century, to meet environmental standards, Reuters reported.

About 1,000 workers went on strike last week to request repairs in the unit that provides water and electricity to the refinery. Meanwhile, Venezuela has threatened to terminate the leasing contract.