U.S OIL TAX WOULD NOT AFFECT PDVSA-CHAMPLIN DEAL an eventual oil import fee in the united states will make no difference to champlin petroleum corp's joint venture agreement signed today with petroleos de venezuela (pdvsa), champlin chairman william adams said. "this was an aspect which was discussed at length during the negotiations, but we can say our contract covers all eventualities in this regard," he told reuters during the signing ceremony here. Venezuela's energy and mines minister arturo hernandez grisanti earlier described the agreement, under which pdvsa buys 50 pct of champlin's corpus christi refinery, as "one more step in the maturation and presence of our oil industry in world markets." union pacific chairman william cook said the agreement will be beneficial to both sides, combining a secure source of supply with a modern refinery and access to markets. "we are looking to a long-term relationship, and at a time of protectionist tendencies in the U.S. Congress there are clear benefits to both sides," he said. Adams said pdvsa crude would remain competitive even with an oil import fee because champlin had invested heavily over the years in adapingthe texas refinery to process venezuelan heavy crudes with coking and hydro-treating facilities and obtain a competitive product yield. "therefore while the danger of an oil import fee has been a consideration in the negotiations, and it remains to be seen what such a fee would represent, we do not foresee any impact on today's agreement," adams said. He said the refinery could run crude as heavy as venezuela's bolivar coastal field (bcf) 17 api without any difficultiesand would probably move over time to a heavier diet to take advantage of bigger margins. The refinery has a capacity to process up to 110,000 bpd of venezuelan high sulphur content heavy crude, with an 80-85 pct yield of white products.