Caracas, Venezuela – Venezuela will end negotiations with foreign oil companies on how it will take a majority control of their operations along the Orinoco River, Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said Monday.
Ramirez told reporters “there’s no possible negotiation” with the foreign firms but that private companies would be allowed to own minority stakes in Orinoco River basin oil projects.
“Every case will be different,” he said. “We will have an effective majority control.”
The government negotiated last year with the companies about taking majority control of oil operations in the country, but no agreements were reached.
In a speech to congress last week, President Hugo Chavez said the private companies – British Petroleum PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips Co., Total SA and Statoil ASA – would be given the option to stay on as minority partners.
Chavez – a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro – also announced plans to nationalize companies within Venezuela’s telecommunications, electricity and natural gas industries.
The government has already taken majority ownership of Venezuelan oil-producing operations outside the Orinoco region.
