Chavez Expects to Have Control of Oil Ventures By May

Venezuela intends to take control of “no less than 60 percent” of four heavy-crude-oil joint ventures in the country’s eastern Orinoco Belt by May 1, President Hugo Chavez said.

State-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA, South America’s largest oil company, will add 4,000 of the employees currently working for the ventures to its payroll, Chavez said today in a televised press conference in Caracas. The four projects turn tar-like oil into about 600,000 barrels of synthetic oil a day.
Bloomberg