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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Venezuela Takes Control of Total S.A. Oil Field |
| 2006-04-03 |
| CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela tightened its grip on the petroleum sector after taking control of an oil field from Total S.A. when the French company refused to sign an agreement to turn the site over to a state-run joint venture. State oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, "took control of our operations at Jusepin. It was during the weekend," Total spokeswoman Patricia Marie told The Associated Press by telephone from the company's headquarters in Paris. The move is another step in Venezuela's campaign to take on Big Oil at a time when rising oil prices, political instability in the Mideast and Nigeria and new buyers in Asia have put the world's fifth-largest oil exporter in a winning position. Last week, Venezuela's oil minister, Rafael Ramirez, said of Exxon Mobil Corp. "we don't want them to be here" because the Irving, Texas-based company has resisted tax increases and contract changes that are part of a policy by President Hugo Chavez's government to re-nationalize the oil industry. The government has increasingly sought projects with state-controlled oil companies, including China's CNPC, India's ONGC and Iran's Petropars. In the case of Total, it operated the oil field independently under a contract with the government. Total was unable to immediately provide further details, including how many Total employees work at the site. The 30,000 barrel-a-day Jusepin oil field was one of 32 in the country that have been run by private oil companies under contract. Venezuela demanded last year those contracts be changed into joint ventures giving PDVSA a minimum 60-percent stake. On Friday, 17 oil companies including Spanish-Argentine Repsol YPF, Royal Dutch Shell PLC and China National Petroleum, signed on to the new legal framework. "We didn't migrate the field ... and PDVSA took it. That's logical," Marie said, adding the company had not made any formal decision yet on how to proceed. Meanwhile, Italian oil and gas company Eni SpA said Monday that PDVSA had unilaterally terminated its contract at the Dacion oil field on Saturday. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #6 Given the French habit of nationalizing and denationalizing industries at home, Chirac might sound a bit hypocritical to complain about others doing the same to French companies abroad. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-04-03 23:07 |
| #5 Chirac has an opportunity here to salvage his and France's credibility by publicly supporting Total SA's contractual/legal rights under terms. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-04-03 22:43 |
| #4 I keep telling you that intelligence is finite. There are just far too many around and too little to distribute. |
| Posted by: Tholet Ulinert1382 2006-04-03 19:02 |
| #3 Amazing. Not even the French can work with these dirtbags. Must have floored them that none of usual offers of bribes, kickbacks and Parisian shopping trips for the wives made a difference. |
| Posted by: Classical_Liberal 2006-04-03 18:50 |
| #2 There is a company that works for us that are experts in running oil operations. Venezuela threw out all western people a few years back and didn't pay them for the work they did. Late last year, they came back, paid up and begged for that company to come back. Seems that Venezuela doesn't have the trained people to run their oil fields. Stupid little prick.... They only took the job 'cus they didn't want the Chinese in there screwing stuff up even more. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2006-04-03 13:29 |
| #1 Chavex is certifiable. The French were his most likely non-dictatorial ally. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-04-03 12:41 |