Exxon scores win against Venezuelan oil company
Courts agree to freeze $12 billion in assets after Chavez drove the U.S. firm to leave.
By Chris KraulLos Angeles Times.
By Chris KraulLos Angeles Times.
CARACAS, VENEZUELA — Exxon Mobil Corp. won a round in its bitter fight against Venezuela's state oil company Thursday as courts in several countries said they would freeze $12 billion in international assets held by Petroleos de Venezuela.Last year, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez nationalized a heavy oil field in eastern Venezuela, and Exxon Mobil has been seeking to recover the value of its investment in the site ever since. Exxon Mobil, as well as ConocoPhillips, abandoned projects in the country rather than agree to Chavez's demands to cede majority ownership to Petroleos de Venezuela, known as PDVSA.Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil said Thursday that U.S., British and Dutch courts had approved its request to block the Venezuelan oil giant from "disposing of its assets worldwide valued at $12 billion." The action comes amid reports that the oil company that is Chavez's chief source of money is short of cash and could be looking to sell assets.News emerged this week that Petroleos had to renegotiate a $1.1-billion loan arranged by the French bank BNP Paribas that was due at the end of 2007. Analysts say the oil company may be in a cash crunch because of rising overhead and declining production. Petroleos officials did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.Despite historically high oil prices in recent months, Petroleos is feeling the effects of an expanded payroll, mounting debt, subsidized gasoline and costly government social programs that the state oil giant's revenue funds, said Gustavo Garcia, an economist at the institute of superior administrative studies in Caracas, Venezuela's capital
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