Chavez takes over Venezuela's last pvt oil fields
President Hugo Chavez's government took over Venezuela's last privately run oil fields intensifying a power struggle with international companies over the world's largest known petroleum deposit.
By Agencies |
BARCELONA (VENEZUELA): President Hugo Chavez's government took over Venezuela's last privately run oil fields intensifying a power struggle with international companies over the world's largest known petroleum deposit.
Newly bought Russian-made fighter jets streaked through the sky as Chavez shouted "Down with the US empire!" to thousands of red-clad oil workers, calling the state takeover a historic victory for Venezuela after years of US-backed corporate exploitation.
"The nationalisation of Venezuela's oil is now for real," said Chavez yesterday, who declared that for Venezuela to be a socialist state it must have control over its natural resources.
Chavez accused foreign oil companies of bad drilling practices due to their hunger for quick profits, and said Venezuela could sue them for causing lasting damage to oil fields.
Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said the fields had reverted to state control just after midnight in ceremonies on May Day, the international workers' holiday. State television showed cheering workers in hard hats raising the flags of Venezuela and the national oil company over a refinery and four drilling fields in the Orinoco River basin.
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The companies ceding control included BP PLC, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp, Chevron Corp, France's Total SA and Norway's Statoil ASA. All but ConocoPhillips signed agreements last week agreeing in principle to state control, and ConocoPhillips said yesterday that it too was cooperating.Download
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