The Petro-Caribbean Agreement has started to produce benefits for the DR, reflected in a US$57 million credit for its oil bill, as announced yesterday by the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Francisco Javier Garcia. He stated that this is an important form of aid from Venezuela, but that it does not solve the country’s fuel supply problem. “Dominicans still need to save fuel because we are in a difficult situation with the international market”, he said. The DR has asked Venezuela to consider the country’s situation as part of the references they use to determine the prices of their products. Venezuela agreed to this and a clause was included stating that when natural disasters or terrorist acts occur that might affect the price of oil and its derivates, the reference taken will not be the day the purchase was made but rather the five days before and after that purchase date, which would determine a different price. Garcia stated that the Dominican Petroleum Refinery (Refidomsa) has agreed that the programming of all its purchases will be assured when it reaches 50,000 barrels of oil from Venezuela.