Citgo re-launches fuel subsidy program in the US

Citgo, a subsidiary of state-run oil holding Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa), has launched on Tuesday for the seventh year its annual program on fuel subsidy in the United States for over 400,000 recipients in 2012, the company reported in a press release.

The site chosen to introduce the program was the place of Arlene Grier, a grandma resident of Camden, New Jersey, a city known by its high poverty level.

"We do not want families to need to choose either keeping their homes with heating or paying other bare essentials, such as food or medicines," Citgo President Alejandro Granado declared in opening the program, the communiqué quoted.

Since 2005, Citgo has spent over USD 400 million in energy aid for the poorest, according to corporate numbers. Last year, the company granted the equivalent of more than USD 60 million in heating fuel to low-income families, the press release noted.