Venezuela vows to eject Conoco if resists takeover

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela threatened on Thursday to eject ConocoPhillips from the
OPEC nation if it further resists President Hugo Chavez’s plans to nationalize its multibillion-dollar investments in the massive Orinoco reserve.

The government also underlined its tough negotiating stance against ConocoPhillips and the five other companies whose assets are takeover targets, ruling out paying cash compensation or buying the debt they took on to develop the Orinoco projects.


ConocoPhillips was the only company that refused to sign an accord with Venezuela to transfer operations of the four heavy crude upgrading projects to the state, although it did join the others in carrying out the actual handover on Tuesday.

It appears to be on the same legal standing as the others, but politically it faces much stiffer negotiations as the companies, some of the world’s largest, seek to strike a deal over their future participation in the projects.

Reuters