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Washington backs Exxon in battle with Venezuela
Despite its support for Exxon, the US denies it is working to oust Chavez and has distanced itself from the specific legal case.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:30 February 15, 2008
Washington: The United States on Wednesday backed ExxonMobil Corp's effort to win compensation from Venezuela for seized assets in a case that has prompted the Opec nation to threaten to cut off oil supplies to America.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a foe of the United States, says Exxon court victories that resulted in $12 billion in Venezuelan assets being frozen over the seizure is part of an "economic war" to unseat him directed by the Bush administration.
Despite its support for Exxon, the US denies it is working to oust Chavez and has distanced itself from the specific legal case.
"We fully support the efforts of ExxonMobil to get a just and fair compensation package for their assets according to the standards of international law," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
"But we are not involved in that dispute. It is something that has to be litigated between Venezuela and ExxonMobil and various courts around the world," he added.
The Venezuelan president stopped oil exports to Exxon on Tuesday, escalating Venezuela's multibillion-dollar fight with the US company over his nationalisation of a project last year that was part-owned by Exxon and Britain's BP.
Separately, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told lawmakers on Capitol Hill that US officials were looking into whether a recently reported deal between Venezuela's state-run oil company and Iran violates US law.
Rice said she was examining issues raised by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen about a reported $1 billion deal late last year between Venezuela's state-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA, which owns the Citgo subsidiary in the United States, and Iran's Petropars, a unit of the National Iranian Oil Company.
Ros-Lehtinen wrote to Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson last week asking they probe whether Citgo benefited from the company's deal with Iran.
Alternative
US looks to Gulf
Major oil producers in the Middle East have assured the United States they could compensate for a supply disruption if Venezuela slows exports in its dispute with ExxonMobil Corp, a US official said on Wednesday.
"Other major oil producers, including those in the Arabian Gulf, have assured us that they can compensate for significant disruptions of any nature," a State Department official said. He declined to be more specific.
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