Venezuela completes takeover of units operated by US Exterran
Venezuela completed its takeover of 52 gas compressor and electrical generator units operated by US oil service
company Exterran as part of a nationalization drive by President Hugo Chavez.
Chavez, a fierce foe of US influence who calls Cuba's Fidel Castro a mentor, has increased state control over broad
swaths of Venezuela's economy including telecommunications, oil and steel assets in his drive to install a socialist
model.
State oil company PdVSA recently began taking control of Exterran operations and other oil service assets and plans
to incorporate more than 400 workers employed by the US company.
"This decision... strengthens the country's energy sovereignty, secures oil and gas operations and contributes to the
building of socialism," PdVSA said.
Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez has said only some parts of the OPEC nation's oil industry will be nationalized to
guarantee that strategic sectors are controlled by the state. The national assembly is currently reading a proposed
law to put all petrochemical activity under state control, affecting Japanese and US companies and extending the list
of companies in the oil industry already in government hands.
Despite his anti-capitalist rhetoric, analysts say, Chavez has compensated some companies fairly for nationalized
assets, but his takeover of operations belonging to petroleum heavyweights like ExxonMobil sparked legal action.
