Venezuela’s Chavez Squeezes Oil Companies With Taxes, Raids

On July 14 in the western city of Maracaibo, Venezuelan government tax auditors and a prosecutor went to the offices of Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil company.

They seized boxes of records to build a case that San Ramon, California-based Chevron and 21 other energy companies owe Venezuela $3 billion in back taxes. The raid is part of President Hugo Chavez’s push to squeeze more money out of foreign companies that want to pump oil from the world’s fifth-largest petroleum exporter.

Bloomberg