OPEC Supports Venezuela In Exxon Row

Libya’s top oil official, Shokri Ghanem, Wednesday said the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries stood squarely behind member country Venezuela in its row with U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) over contracts and assets.

“We don’t think Venezuela should be treated this way and we are going to look at this. There is solidarity with Venezuela, of course. Venezuela is an OPEC member,” Ghanem told Dow Jones Newswires from Tripoli. Ghanem, who is head of the Libyan National Oil Co., said he was speaking for himself and some other ministers he’d spoken to recently.


Ghanem said OPEC was likely to discuss Venezuela’s dispute with ExxonMobil when the 13-nation producer group meets March 5 in Vienna to review its production policy. He cautioned though that OPEC was unlikely to move to cut any output as a result of the spat.

…”I think Venezuela will introduce a report at the OPEC meeting and we’ll talk about the details,” Ghanem said. “We are going to look at what happened because I think the decision by courts was unfair.”

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