Envoy warns Chavez about oil takeover

A top U.S. diplomat warned Friday that Venezuela cannot afford to drive away the major oil companies affected by President Hugo Chavez’s decision to takeover the nation’s most promising oil-producing operations.

Thomas A. Shannon, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, also said the U.S. government was not concerned about Venezuela’s reliability as an oil provider, despite threats from Chavez to cut off oil shipments to the United States. Chavez has said he is ready to divert oil exports to other countries like China and India.
“Whether President Chavez likes it or not, Venezuela is joined to the hip with the United states,” he said. But “if Venezuela were to make a decision that it will sell oil some place else, well, we would buy it some place else.”

Houston Chronicle