VENEZUELA WANTS TO BOOST ITS REFINING CAPACITY Venezuela's state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. wants to raise its worldwide refining capacity by 150,000 barrels of per day, a company official attending the National Petroleum Refiners Association meeting here said. He declined to be identified but said PdVSA has the capacity to refine about 650,000 bpd of crude oil from refining centers in Venezuela, Sweden, West Germany, Belgium, and the United States. The company recently purchased a 50 pct stake in the Corpus Christi, Texas refinery of Champlin Petroleum Co, a subsidiary of Union Pacific Corp <UNP>. Earlier it bought a similar stake in the Lake Charles, La refinery owned by Citgo Petroleum Corp, a unit of Southland Corp <SLC>. According to the official, Venezuela is searching worldwide for the additional refining capacity but he did not mention where the company was looking. Refineries abroad, he said, guarantee a refining outlet for Venezuelan crude oil while ensuring stability of supply to refiners. He said Venezuela currently produces about 1.4 mln bpd of crude oil, which is in line with its 1.495 bpd OPEC ceiling.