Venezuela struck deals on Friday for natural gas projects in the Caribbean with foreign companies, including US-based Chevron, in a sign it is open to some outside investment despite sweeping nationalisations. In transportation, production and exploration projects that the government said could draw billions of dollars of investment over the next few years, Venezuela agreed to work with minority partners from Japan to Italy.
As well as Chevron, Russia's Gazprom, Italy's Eni, Qatar Petroleum, Japan's Mitubishi Corp, Mitsui, Itochu and Malaysia's Petronas signed the accords to work on the offshore natural gas projects, the Venezuelan government said. The deals help make President Hugo Chavez's case that his Opec nation can work with foreign investors from around the world despite his deteriorating relations with the Bush administration which labels him an autocrat.
Chavez, who ejected US major oil Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips from multibillion-dollar oil production projects last year, presided over the signing ceremony and told the Chevron delegation, "We want to be friends with gringos." Exxon and ConocoPhillips filed lawsuits against Venezuela for last year's nationalisations but Chevron quickly struck a deal and remained in another of the crude projects targeted for takeover by the socialist leader.
Venezuela is a major oil supplier to the United States, its top energy customer. Its natural gas operations are much smaller and some of its offshore exploration projects in the sector have failed to fulfill the potential the government has said they could achieve. Last week, Chavez expelled the US ambassador and threatened to cut off oil supply to the United States.
CHAVEZ SAYS 'TAKING BACK' MINES: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Friday he is "taking back" mines, a sign the leftist may order take-overs in a sector that includes a large gold project run by Canada's Crystallex. Chavez, who has nationalised swaths of the oil-based economy, appeared to single out Las Cristinas, the Crystallex-owned project that has the potential to be a world-class mine but was denied an exploration permit in April.
"We are taking back big mines, and one of them is one of the biggest in the world. And do you know what it is? It's gold, it's gold," Chavez told supporters at a rally during a speech about the benefits of state control in an economy.
Las Cristinas has been on standby for years in need of permits. The government's permit denial this year sent Crystallex' stock plummeting. Since then, the company has failed to have the permit ruling overturned. But it has said it has held encouraging talks with the government about the project. Government officials have not publicly echoed such sentiment.