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ConocoPhillips holding out as Venezuela asserts control |
| Home | (The Associated Press) - CARACAS: Major international oil companies have agreed to cede control of Venezuela's last privately run oil projects to President Hugo Chávez's government, but ConocoPhillips resisted, prompting warnings that its fields could be taken over outright. Chávez decreed last month that four heavy-oil projects in the Orinoco River basin, considered Venezuela's most lucrative, be brought under government control on May 1. The president has said soldiers will accompany officials to the fields on that day. Officials from Chevron, BP, the French firm Total and the Norwegian firm Statoil signed memorandums of understanding Wednesday agreeing to give the state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela a majority stake in three of the projects. Exxon Mobil signed earlier in private, officials said. |