Venezuela’s foreign minister said his country’s seizure of oil fields from France’s Total SA and Italy’s Eni SPA won’t hurt relations with other international investors.
The move “doesn’t affect anything,” Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez told The Associated Press April 4.
“Almost all of the companies, including firms as important as ChevronTexaco, as well as Repsol and many others, have created absolutely no problems about this,” said Rodriguez, who has been in Havana since early this year for treatment for a knee problem.
Venezuela’s Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez announced April 3 that state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, had taken control of Total’s Jusepin field and Eni’s Dacion field.
Together, they produced 115,000 barrels a day, before the two companies refused to turn operations over to state-controlled joint ventures.
ExxonMobil sold its stake
Exxon Mobil Corp. earlier sold off its stake in the 15,000-barrel-a-day Quiamare-La Ceiba field rather than submit to tightened terms.
Venezuela is the world’s fifth largest crude exporter and a major supplier of petroleum and petroleum products to the United States.
Some experts believe the new tough tactics employed on those unwilling to play by Caracas’ new rules could backfire on the government of President Hugo Chavez by scaring away partners that Venezuela needs to develop untapped reserves.
But Rodriguez said foreign petroleum companies remain “enchanted” with the potential returns on investing in Venezuela. He said the government’s measures “give much security, certainty and legal security to the firms that are signing now with Venezuela.”
Foreign energy investors in Venezuela are “backed by a law for hydrocarbons, and they are backed by a law for gas, and they are backed by the constitution,” he said.
Rodriguez, who was president of PDVSA until the end of 2004, said the contracts the oil company signed with foreign firms in the 1990s “didn’t have any legal backing … to the contrary, they were signed in violation of Venezuelan law.”
—The Associated Press
News and information on Shell Plc
John Donovan’s ebooks
EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA: HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
SHELL OFFICIAL ENDORSEMENT OF THIS WEBSITE
Critic’s corner
30 November 2023: Posted by John Donovan
The content below is sourced from current verifiable customer reviews of Shell Energy published on Trustpilot.
Extremely slow broadband for 10 months, not fixed. I have had slow broadband well below the guaranteed speed for 10 months and Shell Energy have not been able to fix it. They have tried sending about 4 or 5 engineers but have not fixed the problem. Gurps, who I have been dealing with most recently, has been friendly and polite, alth… Read more
OVER 500 EXTERNAL PUBLICATIONS CITING OUR SHELL WEBSITES
See our link list of over 500 articles by the FT, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, Dow Jones Newswires, New York Times, CNBC etc, plus UK House of Commons Select Committee Hansard records, information on U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission website etc. all containing references to our Shell focussed websites, or our website founders Alfred and John Donovan. Includes TV documentary features in English and German, newspaper and magazine articles, radio interviews, newsletters etc. Plus academic papers, Stratfor intelligence reports and UK, U.S. and Australian state/parliamentary publications, also citing our Shell websites. Click on this link to see the entire list, all in date order with a link to an index of over 100 books also containing references to our non-profit websites and/or our activities.
John Donovan, the website owner
DISCLAIMER
This is not a Shell website. That fact should be abundantly plain from the overall content of this home page and our sister Shell focussed websites, including shellnazihistory.com. Click on the Disclaimer link at top of this page for more information. You Can Be Sure Shell does not endorse or approve of this website. There are no subscription charges nor do we solicit or accept donations. No advertising is accepted. It is an entirely free to use non-commercial website drawing attention to the negative side of Shell. The Shell logo image with the white text used on this website, as per the above example, is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous. It can be found here on WIKIMEDIA COMMONS. Use this link for Shell’s own website.
SHELL PROPPED UP APARTHEID
ARTICLE: U.S. unions urge boycott of Shell to fight apartheid: 19 Jan 1986
ARTICLE: Shell, South Africa and Apartheid: 16 Oct 2012
ARTICLE: Shell propped up racist apartheid regime in South Africa: 24 Nov 2012
ARTICLE: The Neptune Strategy:Shell, propped up Apartheid in South Africa: 26 Nov 2012
ARTICLE: Shell accused of benefiting from South African apartheid-era land law: 21 March 2013
ARTICLE: THE CAMPAIGN TO END APARTHEID: 12 Dec 2013
RELEVANT PAGES FROM "A HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL, VOLUME 3, PUBLISHED IN 2007. PREPARED BY SHELL'S PAID HISTORIANS. DEALS WITH SHELL'S SUPPORT FOR APARTHEID
SHELL TOXIC BRANDS
Comment Rules
- Please show respect to the opinions of others no matter how seemingly far-fetched.
- Abusive, foul language, and/or divisive comments may be deleted without notice.
- Each blog member is allowed limited comments, as displayed above the comment box.
- Comments must be limited to the number of words displayed above the comment box.
- Please limit one comment after any comment posted per post.