CARACAS, Venezuela (AP, via CNews) - Thirty-two privately operated Venezuelan oilfields returned to state control Sunday with the start of the new year, the government said.

At midnight Dec. 31, a deadline expired for all private companies with contracts to independently pump oil to agree to joint ventures that will give Venezuela's state oil company majority control.

The 32 operating agreements were signed between 1990 and 1997, when Venezuela's petroleum industry was open to private and foreign capital. The objective at the time - when the price of crude was below $10 US a barrel - was to increase production at low-priority oil fields that had been closed because of their location or lack of resources and which Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., or PDVSA, had no plans to reactivate.

As oil prices crept back up in recent years, President Hugo Chavez's government sought to boost its control and share of profits from the industry. In 2001, it passed a hydrocarbons law that made the operating agreements illegal by requiring oil production to be carried out by companies majority-owned by the government.

As of Sunday, Venezuela had successfully completed "the recovery" of the 32 fields, Venezuelan oil minister Rafael Ramirez said in a statement.

The government threatened to reclaim oil fields from companies that refused to sign the so-called transitional joint-venture agreements, which will later be converted into permanent agreements with PDVSA.

Chevron Corp., BP PLC, Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Brazil's state oil company Petrobras S.A. were among those that signed earlier.

Spanish-Argentine firm Repsol YPF was the last to sign earlier this week after buying out Exxon Mobil Corp.'s stake in the Quiamare-La Ceiba oil field. Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil had resisted the contract changes, which will significantly reduce the oil companies' share of profits and control over operations and could also undermine the value of their Venezuelan assets.

The state could take as much as a 90-per-cent stake in the new ventures. The amount the private companies have invested in the fields will determine the amount of control they have, Ramirez has said.

The 32 oil fields have been responsible for about 500,000 of Venezuela's officially declared production of 3.2 million barrels a day.

Venezuela is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter and has the largest proven reserves outside of the Mideast.

fuck we gonna have to go kick that tard out now too?

Read my sigline!!!

If the people are not a part of their own government as in a consitutional republic that government will always pervert it's power to the injury of all opposition to it's self.

The weird the way you guys get a bug up your butt about one guy but not others?? Is it purely becuase he is a lefty????? A lot of countries we buy oil from have nationalised oil industries including Saudi Arabia and Norway. So whats the big deal? As to this quote:

If the people are not a part of their own government as in a consitutional republic that government will always pervert it's power to the injury of all opposition to it's self.

You gotta read up on the news, He was popularly elected twice and a US backed coup even tried to seize power from him. But the people took to the streets in a popular counter-coup and he retained power. There was even a point where Bush was already saying he was out of power and he looked foward to dealing with "the new guy" OOOOPPPSS! Because of the tacit CIA involvement Chavez is now pissed! Would'nt you be?

Pat Robertson was right.

A very special Christmas message from Hugo Chavez to the Jews:

The descendants of those who crucified Christ ... have taken ownership of the riches of the world, a minority has taken ownership of the gold of the world, the silver, the minerals, water, the good lands, petrol, well, the riches, and they have concentrated the riches in a small number of hands.

Nice

Anybody checked out Venezuela's ORDBAT lately? Would be interesting to see if there military strength is increasing.

As with a lot of these third world countries when the state own people start to get into the positions the oil output will fall significantly. Due to the fact that there’s no incentive for them to maintain equipment since all the monies are going to the gov. The employees aren’t going to be the best or dedicated either since most will be put into positions because of their family ties. That was the best move Exxon could have done since it would have been money pit it they had stayed. Give it three years and it will be chaos, and they will invite the compainies back in for what they (to save face) call a joint venture.

Of course the people love him. He promises them a piece of the foreign-owned oil pie and they are more than happy to give him their vote. Chile all over again. Chavez needs to be "Allended."

Chavez is elected by the poor (that subsribe to the socialist ideal).  He promises to seize the assets of the middle and wealthy class and give their money to the peasants.  I doubt that he will siphon any off for himself, he's obviously a misunderstood, benevolent ruler leader.  Sort of a Latin American Robin Hood.

RIP Venezuela.....


Those companies should have destroyed all their equipment on the way out...

Taking into account that Citgo is owned by the Venezuelan government, I have quit buying anything from them.

Chavez incited riots during the Latin American summit a few months ago. This guy is as anti-american as they come. His mentor and hero is Fidel Castro.

Quoted: As with a lot of these third world countries when the state own people start to get into the positions the oil output will fall significantly. Due to the fact that there’s no incentive for them to maintain equipment since all the monies are going to the gov. The employees aren’t going to be the best or dedicated either since most will be put into positions because of their family ties. That was the best move Exxon could have done since it would have been money pit it they had stayed. Give it three years and it will be chaos, and they will invite the compainies back in for what they (to save face) call a joint venture.

Yep, the failure of communism will rear it's ugly head. Hehe. The men worked on the job. They spend, they save, they support the family. Then the 'gubment rolls in with tanks and "nationalizes" their enterprise. Then the men have to ask themselves, "why am I working hard for Hugo?" Then they will take to seas on liferafts and head for the good 'ole USA.

Quoted: Taking into account that Citgo is owned by the Venezuelan government, I have quit buying anything from them.

My wife is stupid about politics. She's a latina and I explained the situation to her so she would not buy from Citgo. But she said, "I'm buying because of convenience. If the American 'gubment wants to get rid of Citgo... blah blah". I told her, "why don't YOU get rid of Citgo? Don't buy from there because someone latina/o SOB is getting shot over there".

Quoted: RIP Venezuela..... Those companies should have destroyed all their equipment on the way out...

+1

Leave them a state-owned pile of burnt and twisted metal.

Quoted: The weird the way you guys get a bug up your butt about one guy but not others??

Just the way you guys get a bug up your butt about one guy but not others.  Deal with it.

Quoted: The weird the way you guys get a bug up your butt about one guy but not others?? Is it purely becuase he is a lefty????? A lot of countries we buy oil from have nationalised oil industries including Saudi Arabia and Norway. So whats the big deal? As to this quote: If the people are not a part of their own government as in a consitutional republic that government will always pervert it's power to the injury of all opposition to it's self. You gotta read up on the news, He was popularly elected twice and a US backed coup even tried to seize power from him. But the people took to the streets in a popular counter-coup and he retained power. There was even a point where Bush was already saying he was out of power and he looked foward to dealing with "the new guy" OOOOPPPSS! Because of the tacit CIA involvement Chavez is now pissed! Would'nt you be?

It's not because he's a lefty.  It's because he'll make it more expensive for me to fill up my truck.  Other countries with nationalised oil industries have not openly threatened to divert ALL oil sales to China, Chavez has.

Quoted: A very special Christmas message from Hugo Chavez to the Jews: The descendants of those who crucified Christ ... have taken ownership of the riches of the world, a minority has taken ownership of the gold of the world, the silver, the minerals, water, the good lands, petrol, well, the riches, and they have concentrated the riches in a small number of hands. Nice

Sounds like Pat Robertson is right: We do need to shoot the bastard.

Quoted: The weird the way you guys get a bug up your butt about one guy but not others?? Is it purely becuase he is a lefty????? A lot of countries we buy oil from have nationalised oil industries including Saudi Arabia and Norway. So whats the big deal? As to this quote: If the people are not a part of their own government as in a consitutional republic that government will always pervert it's power to the injury of all opposition to it's self. You gotta read up on the news, He was popularly elected twice and a US backed coup even tried to seize power from him. But the people took to the streets in a popular counter-coup and he retained power. There was even a point where Bush was already saying he was out of power and he looked foward to dealing with "the new guy" OOOOPPPSS! Because of the tacit CIA involvement Chavez is now pissed! Would'nt you be?

Are you this uninformed about everything??

The coup against Chavez was not backed by the U.S.  The U.S. issued a rather tepid statement saying we would be glad to work with the new government after the coup leaders had briefly seized power;  that was the total extent of U.S. "support".

Chavez was "popularly reelected" in an "election" that was about as fraudulent as it gets.  Chavez's thugs engaged in voter intimidation at the polls.  Independent exit polls showed that Chavez was defeated by about 57%, whereas he claimed to have won by about the same margin.  The electronic voting machines reported identical totals for the opposition vote in several districts, leading to well-founded speculation that the machines were programmed to "cap" the opposition vote.

Chavez's thugs fired on unarmed and peaceful demonstrators in post-election protests, killing many.

Chavez is backing "marxist" revolutionaries throughout South America, destabilizing several regimes.  He ordered more AK-47's than his own military forces could ever use, and is apparently donating them to his revolutionary brethren.

Try learning a little about the situation before expressing such unmitigated ignorance.