Venezuela has raked in $4.3 billion from a tax on windfall oil profits it started collecting from state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela in mid-April, President Hugo Chavez said.

“Up to now we have obtained $4.3 billion,” President Hugo Chavez told his ministers during a publicly broadcast cabinet meeting.

Of that, $800 million has already been used by the Chavez administration, while $3.56 billion have been placed in a fund, Chavez said, without elaborating further

Venezuela's legislature im mid-April approved a "mandatory contribution" on windfall oil profits, as oil prices surged to record levels worldwide.

The measure is levied on profits when oil prices rise above $70 per barrel, officials said, beginning at 50 per cent and increasing to 60 per cent when prices top $100 per barrel, using the barrel of Brent crude as a reference price.

Venezuelan crude closed on Friday at $108.63 per barrel. Its average price so far in 2008 has been 103.74.

Venezuela's oil exports totalled $48.47 billion in the first half of 2008, a figure 78 per cent higher than for the same period in 2007, central bank figures released on Wednesday showed.

Venezuela said that it pumped 3.3 million barrels of oil per day, of which 2.7 million are sold as exports.

The International Energy Agency disputes those figures, estimating that overall output is a lower 2.5 million barrels per day.