WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Bill Delahunt and the president of CITGO today announced a first-in-the-nation plan for the oil company to provide millions of gallons of heavily discounted home heating oil this winter to low-income families and human service institutions across Massachusetts.

“With temperatures dropping and oil prices soaring, we’re all worried sick about people without the means to heat their homes,” Delahunt said. “It is gratifying that at least one major oil company is willing to step up to help – voluntarily and at its own expense.”

As a member of the House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Delahunt has worked extensively with PDVSA, the Venezuelan state oil company which owns CITGO. In recent months, the company has extended favorable financial terms for fuel sales to low-income communities throughout Latin America. CITGO also provided millions of additional barrels of gasoline to the US to help address supply shortages after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The agreement projects that CITGO will offer over 12 million gallons of heating oil at a discount of 40 percent below market prices over the next four months. The CITGO oil will be delivered to its terminal in East Braintree and distributed statewide by two highly-respected local non-profits, Citizens Energy and Mass Energy Consumer Alliance. The two organizations will screen prospective recipients for financial need and arrange for fuel deliveries directly to qualifying households and institutions. For details and individual guidance, families should contact Citizens Energy toll-free at (877) 563-4645. Institutions should contact Mass Energy toll-free at (800) 287-3950.

Under the plan announced today, Delahunt said deliveries of heating oil will begin in early December to tens of thousands of low-income families throughout the Commonwealth – as well as hundreds of qualifying institutions serving low-income residents, such as homeless shelters, hospitals and home health agencies, housing authorities and day care centers. The understanding with Citizens and Mass Energy constitutes the only such agreement in the United States, and may serve as a model for other interested communities.

“Our objective is simple: to help people of limited means through the winter,” said Felix Rodriguez, chief executive officer of CITGO. “No one should have to choose between heat and medicine or food.”

Joseph P. Kennedy II, Chairman and Founder of Citizens Energy Corporation, noted, "On behalf of the many vulnerable Massachusetts families who will benefit from the generosity of the Venezuelan people, I want to offer a deep and heartfelt thanks. A lot of people will be warmer in our state because of the good work and commitment of everyone who's come together to make this initiative possible." According to Mass Energy Executive Director Larry Chretien, “In over two decades of work, this is the best opportunity we have ever had to assist low income people and the organizations that serve them. And given the cost of fuel this winter, the timing could not be better. For that, we are grateful to Congressman Delahunt, President Chavez, and CITGO.”

In his role on the House International Relations Committee, Delahunt has worked extensively with Venezuelan government and business leaders to help defuse its contentious political relations with the Bush Administration. Three years ago, Delahunt helped found “Grupo Boston” (Boston Group) – an inter-parliamentary exchange between the US Congress and members of the Venezuelan National Assembly, including supporters and opponents of President Hugo Chavez, for private discussions on the Cape and Islands. The overriding objective is to create a sustained, constructive attempt to help bridge differences within and between our nations. The Boston Group has explored a wide range of topics, including the relationship between New England’s energy needs and the vast petroleum resources of Venezuela, from which the United States imports 15 percent of its oil.

Delahunt said the urgency of the need for winter relief was underscored by what he called unconscionable reductions in low-income fuel assistance from the Bush Administration. Currently, the LIHEAP fuel assistance program is funded at the lowest level since 1998 – even as fuel costs are projected to jump 50 percent over last year.

The challenge of confronting the impact of skyrocketing consumer prices was evidenced publicly on November 9 when CEOs of the nation’s biggest oil companies were called before a Senate hearing on record industry profits. At that hearing, none of the executives testifying would commit to corporate contributions to energy assistance programs.

“As Americans, we all feel for those who are less fortunate. We want to make sure they get the energy they need,” said Jim Mulva, CEO of ConocoPhillips. “We feel it’s not a good precedent for one industry to fund a program as such. We think that’s a responsibility of the government.”

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