Minister Forms Gas Commission

Venezuela's energy & mines minister Alvaro Silva Calderon has created a new commission made up of various officials in the country's gas sector in order to determine whether the country will go forward with plans to create a new independent gas company, newspaper El Nacional reported. The commission will be made up of energy officials, officials from the gas regulatory agency, and PDVSA Gas, the gas unit of state oil company PDVSA. The government has encountered strong opposition from PDVSA gas workers, since making public plans to dissolve the unit and create a new state owned gas company independent of PDVSA. The commission will have 15 days to turn in a study to the executive branch advising whether the government should abandon its plan to make an independent company, continue with the plan or delay the plan. Workers in PDVSA Gas fear that the creation of the new company could mean lay offs and the loss of benefits.