Venezuela may create windfall oil tax: Chavez

CARACAS, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Venezuela may create a windfall oil tax on earnings generated by quick increases in oil prices, President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday, extending the OPEC’s nation’s efforts to increase revenues from the oil industry.

The leftist Chavez has led a drive to boost taxes on oil companies and increase state control over the industry, a crusade that has led to an escalating legal battle between Venezuela and Exxon Mobil over nationalized assets.


“Soon I want to be presented with a recommendation for what we could call the tax on sudden earnings,” Chavez said during his weekly Sunday broadcast.

The tax, which Chavez said originally came from Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz, would be the fourth move in as many years to increase government income from the OPEC nation’s oil operations.