Venezuela will send an additional shipment of 70,000 cubic meters of diesel to secure Paraguayan fuel reserves, said on Thursday Cíbar Granada, the next president of Paraguayan state-run oil company Petróleos Paraguayos (Petropar).

Granada told an Asunción radio station that this provision has been included in an agreement that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez will sign in the Paraguayan capital city, after the inauguration of Fernando Lugo as the new Paraguayan president, EFE reported.

Chávez, who will arrive on Thursday to Asunción, is one of the ten heads of state to attend the ceremony, which will take place in front of the Congress building.

Granada said that the supply of diesel to Paraguay, which accounts for 80 percent of the provision to the automotive fleet at a subsidized price, will secure regular distribution in the face of recurring fuel shortage.