Venezuela to keep exporting oil to USA
February 19, 2008
On February seventeen, the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez reassured the people of America that he will not be cutting off the oil supply to the great nation. This comes as a great relief to the nation as only last week he had threatened to cut off the oil supply to the United States to show his displeasure when Exxon Mobil Corp. successfully convinced the courts in the United States of America and Europe to freeze the Venezuelan assets. He however on this Sunday said that Venezuela was not planning to halt the shipments of oil. His earlier statements had led to widespread havoc in the oil markets in the previous week.
Chavez made the remark while on a visit to the heavy oil projects in the Orinoco river basin in Venezuela which is very rich in petroleum. He said that Venezuela at present has no plans to stop the shipment of oil to the United States of America. He however made it clear that if the United States was to attack or try and harm Venezuela in any way they would not hesitate in halting the oil supply. This is the umpteenth time he is saying this because he has always warned against the chances of an upcoming US invasion of Venezuela so that USA would have control over immense oil reserves of Venezuela. The fact that USA is dependant on Venezuela for getting almost 10 percent of the oil it requires adds substance to this belief of the socialist leader. However the United States officials have said that no such scheme exists.
The Venezuelan government led by Hugo Chavez is currently engaged in a legal encounter with a Texas based company, Irving, over the issue of compensation for the nationalization of a heavy oil project in the Orinoco river basin. Exxon Mobil is currently trying to freeze billions of dollars of Venezuelan assets which are there in United States and Europe. This they were trying to do to make sure that a payoff would follow and if in case they win they manage to win a decision by an international arbitration panel.
Only one month earlier had a British court ordered an injunction which provided for the freezing of almost $12 billion in assets of a government run unit known as Petroleos de Venezuela SA or PDVSA. Last week, on the 14th, the oil minister for Venezuela let it be known that the demand that Exxon Mobil Corp. was making was far beyond the scope of rational thinking. He said that the demand Exxon Mobil Corp. was making was at least more than 10 times the compensation it might deserve from the country for nationalizing one of its own oil venture.
Chavez was therefore very specific last week when he said that his country was going to cut off the oil shipments to make it very clear to USA and Europe that they would not appreciate it if the assets from Venezuela were frozen.