VIENNA - The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries voiced support here Wednesday to member-nation Venezuela over its legal battle with US energy giant ExxonMobil.
Venezuela is facing a confrontation with ExxonMobil -- the world's biggest oil company -- over its nationalisation of key oil fields in the Orinoco basin, which included two ExxonMobil operations.
"The Conference expressed its support to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Petroleos de Venezuela SA, in the exercise of its sovereign rights over its natural resources, in accordance with international law," OPEC said in its final communique issued after its latest output policy meeting.
"The Conference called for resolving any such disputes through good faith and amicable negotiations," it added.
Venezuela last month asked ExxonMobil to resume World Bank-sponsored talks to resolve the nationalisation dispute and to drop legal cases in New York and London.
ExxonMobil has won court orders in New York, London, the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles freezing some 12 billion dollars of PDVSA assets in those jurisdictions in compensation for the expropriations.
Venezuela's state petroleum company, Petroleos de Venezuela, recently suspended oil supplies to ExxonMobil. That prompted a New York federal judge to approve a freeze of 300 million dollars in Venezuelan assets.
ExxonMobil is seeking compensation of up to five billion dollars, while PDVSA is offering about 715 million dollars.
The leftist South American nation is a significant supplier of oil to the energy-hungry United States, while Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is a vociferous opponent of the world's richest country.
OPEC on Wednesday agreed to maintain its daily oil output target at 29.67 million barrels, insisting the market was "well-supplied."
Venezuela, one of 13 OPEC members, wanted a cut to keep crude prices trading near record highs of above 100 dollars per barrel when demand for oil was expected to fall during the second quarter.
burs/bcp/nh
03/05/2008 16:30 GMT