The U.S. State Department said Feb. 13 it "fully supports" ExxonMobil's bid to receive a fair compensation package for its assets in a dispute with Venezuela.
Venezuela's state petroleum company PDVSA said Feb. 12 it suspended oil supplies to ExxonMobil in retaliation for the U.S .energy giant's securing court orders to freeze billions of dollars in global PDVSA assets.
The court orders were issued as part of an international arbitration sought by ExxonMobil to gain compensation for the Venezuelan government's nationalization of key oil fields in the Orinoco basin.
When asked to comment on PDVSA's suspension, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said: "This is all part of an ongoing commercial dispute between Venezuela and ExxonMobil. "We fully support the efforts of ExxonMobil to get a just and fair compensation package for their assets according to the standards of international law," McCormack said.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008
