Venezuela To Build Nicaragua Refinery

Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chávez, has announced that Venezuela is to build an oil refinery in Nicaragua. The announcement came after the Central American nation joined the ALBA (Alternativa Bolivariana para las Américas) trade agreement. The new facility will have a capacity of between 100,000 and 150,000 barrels of oil, said the president speaking in the capital Managua, telling Nicaragua it could stop worrying about its fuel problems. The country has seen a growing energy crisis since last year and a mounting number of power outages.