No action needed on Qaeda oil threat - Chertoff

MEXICO CITY, Feb 16 (Reuters) US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said today no special measures were needed against a threat by al Qaeda to attack US oil suppliers in Mexico, Canada and Venezuela.

''I don't think there's any sense that there's some specific measure that needs to be taken,'' Chertoff said in the Mexican capital.

A Saudi wing of al Qaeda called this week for attacks on suppliers of oil to the United States to cut off crude supplies vital to the world's largest economy.

Chertoff, in Mexico for talks with government officials, played down the threat, made on a Web site used by Islamic militants.

''I don't think I would characterize it as a specific threat,'' he said.

Mexico, which ships around 1.4 million barrels per day of crude to the United States, says it has already tightened security around its Gulf of Mexico oil rigs in recent years against a possible attack.

On Thursday, Venezuela, which provides around 11 percent of US oil imports, said it would reinforce existing security measures in response to the threat.

Reuters KR VP0005