CARACAS: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro warned on Friday that blocking all oil shipments from his OPEC-nation would have "catastrophic consequences" in the wake of crippling sanctions imposed by the United States on state oil company PDVSA.

In a news conference in Caracas, Maduro also said anyone who accepted illegal nominations by the opposition to PDVSA and its US subsidiary Citgo Petroleum Corp .

"The economic and social consequences of a total blockade to our oil shipments would be catastrophic," he said.