B
B1ackwater
Guest
CNN
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Venezuela's state oil company said Tuesday
that it has stopped selling crude to Exxon Mobil Corp. in response to
the U.S. oil company's drive to use the courts to seize billions of
dollars in Venezuelan assets.
President Hugo Chavez has said Exxon Mobil is no longer welcome to do
business in Venezuela.
Exxon Mobil is locked in a dispute over the nationalization of its oil
ventures in Venezuela that has led President Hugo Chavez to threaten
to cut off all Venezuelan oil supplies to the United States.
Venezuela is currently the United States' fourth largest oil supplier.
Tuesday's announcement by state-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or
PDVSA, was limited to Exxon Mobil, which PDVSA accused of
"judicial-economic harassment" for its efforts in U.S. and European
courts.
PDVSA said it "has paralyzed sales of crude to Exxon Mobil" and
suspended commercial relations with the Irving, Texas-based company.
"The legal actions carried out by the U.S. transnational are
unnecessary ... and hostile," PDVSA said in the statement.
It said it will honor any existing contracts it has with Exxon Mobil
for joint investments abroad, but reserved the right to terminate them
if permitted by the terms of the contracts.
The impact of the decision on Exxon Mobil, the world's biggest
publicly traded oil company, was not immediately clear. Both Chavez
and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez previously said the company is no
longer welcome to do business in Venezuela.
Exxon Mobil spokeswoman Margaret Ross declined to comment on the move
by Venezuela but said that "it is our long-standing practice to take
appropriate steps to meet our customers' needs."
Exxon Mobil is challenging the Chavez government's nationalization of
one of four heavy oil projects in the Orinoco River basin, one of the
world's richest oil deposits.
A British court issued an injunction last month temporarily freezing
up to $12 billion of PDVSA's assets
- - - - -
Let's see now ... Exxon pays gigabucks to find and develop
those oil fields - then Kommie Chavez says "Oops ! They're
not YOURS anymore you running-dog capitalist pigs !". When
Exxon wants its investment money back Chavez just cuts them
off from oil pumped from their own wells.
Theft is theft whether it's done by a corner pickpocket or
some corner pickpocket who's somehow attached "El-Presidente"
to his name.
If Exxon can arrange to remove Chavez from the scene, well,
I'll just look the other way ... justice done.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Venezuela's state oil company said Tuesday
that it has stopped selling crude to Exxon Mobil Corp. in response to
the U.S. oil company's drive to use the courts to seize billions of
dollars in Venezuelan assets.
President Hugo Chavez has said Exxon Mobil is no longer welcome to do
business in Venezuela.
Exxon Mobil is locked in a dispute over the nationalization of its oil
ventures in Venezuela that has led President Hugo Chavez to threaten
to cut off all Venezuelan oil supplies to the United States.
Venezuela is currently the United States' fourth largest oil supplier.
Tuesday's announcement by state-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or
PDVSA, was limited to Exxon Mobil, which PDVSA accused of
"judicial-economic harassment" for its efforts in U.S. and European
courts.
PDVSA said it "has paralyzed sales of crude to Exxon Mobil" and
suspended commercial relations with the Irving, Texas-based company.
"The legal actions carried out by the U.S. transnational are
unnecessary ... and hostile," PDVSA said in the statement.
It said it will honor any existing contracts it has with Exxon Mobil
for joint investments abroad, but reserved the right to terminate them
if permitted by the terms of the contracts.
The impact of the decision on Exxon Mobil, the world's biggest
publicly traded oil company, was not immediately clear. Both Chavez
and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez previously said the company is no
longer welcome to do business in Venezuela.
Exxon Mobil spokeswoman Margaret Ross declined to comment on the move
by Venezuela but said that "it is our long-standing practice to take
appropriate steps to meet our customers' needs."
Exxon Mobil is challenging the Chavez government's nationalization of
one of four heavy oil projects in the Orinoco River basin, one of the
world's richest oil deposits.
A British court issued an injunction last month temporarily freezing
up to $12 billion of PDVSA's assets
- - - - -
Let's see now ... Exxon pays gigabucks to find and develop
those oil fields - then Kommie Chavez says "Oops ! They're
not YOURS anymore you running-dog capitalist pigs !". When
Exxon wants its investment money back Chavez just cuts them
off from oil pumped from their own wells.
Theft is theft whether it's done by a corner pickpocket or
some corner pickpocket who's somehow attached "El-Presidente"
to his name.
If Exxon can arrange to remove Chavez from the scene, well,
I'll just look the other way ... justice done.
