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UPDATE: Conoco: Want Amicable Settlement With Venezuela
date: October 3, 2007
SOURCE:Dow Jones
ConocoPhillips (COP) continues to seek an amicable settlement with Venezuela over compensation for the company's stake in an oil project, Chief Executive James Mulva said Wednesday.
Mulva said he met with Venezuela Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez over the weekend. They meet "every several weeks," Mulva said.
Mulva declined to say what type of compensation is being discussed.
"I just feel encouraged that we continue good discussions with the minister and the ministry people, and we expect to be doing this over the next several weeks or months," Mulva said during a press conference after a speech before the Detroit Economic Club.
ConocoPhillips walked away from its ventures in Venezuela in June, taking a $ 4.5 billion charge. Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) also left Venezuela and has since filed for recourse via arbitration.
The shifting of ownership of the oil projects in the Orinoco River basin topped Venezuela's multiyear campaign to wrangle control away from the global integrated energy majors. Low-quality Orinoco oil is expensive to upgrade, requiring billions of dollars of infrastructure investments. Venezuela demanded larger stakes in the projects after much of the investment had already been made. Venezuela's moves are part of a larger trend of resource-rich countries demanding more control and money from companies that launched projects years ago when oil prices were low.
Asked about the possibility of taking the dispute to arbitration, Mulva reiterated that the two sides are working toward an amicable agreement.
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