The US Government Accountability Office's report entitled "Issues Relating to Potential Reductions in Venezuelan Oil Production", released on June 27th and prepared as per instructions of Senator Richard Lugar, the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, has resulted in a continuing debate in Washington.
 
In a letter to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Lugar urged Washington to "estimate the probable impacts of supply disruption so that proper response strategies can be formulated."

He also recommended using diplomacy to complement the US administration efforts aimed at promoting reliable supply of oil from Venezuela. In this direction, Lugar claimed that "The Department of State should be playing a central role" in ensuring "diplomatic engagement on energy security issues and for establishing a framework through which important technical dialogues can continue."

Lugar's call came following the GAO report, which conceded that the US administration has a feeble influence on the US energy relations with Venezuela, as talks between the US Energy Department and the Venezuelan Energy and Petroleum Ministry have been suspended for three years. The report also noted that a likely cease of Venezuelan oil exports to the US could be solved by resorting to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and by convincing other producing nations to produce more.

"I question the sagacity of relying on other exporting countries to increase production," said Lugar. Regarding the use of SPR, he reminded that it is designed for short-term supply shortages. "We must consider that we could face multiple oil shortages at once, which may not be able to be coped with by the SPR system."

"The GAO's conclusions reinforce the very clear importance of re-evaluating United States Government policy and activities related to international energy activities and of developing contingency plans specifically to mitigate the effects that a disruption of Venezuelan oil would have for the US market and the world. However unrealistic Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez' repeated threats to disrupt oil supply may be, we have a responsibility to plan appropriate contingencies that protect the American people," Lugar said.

The Senator added that "Venezuela is using oil as a 'political weapon' to persuade consumer countries to adopt a posture sympathetic to its interests."