Petroven Company

Exxon Mobil Corp. won a round in its bitter fight against Venezuela's state oil company Thursday as courts in several countries said they would freeze $12 billion in international assets held by Petroleos de Venezuela. Last year, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez nationalized a heavy oil field in eastern Venezuela, and Exxon Mobil has been seeking to recover the value of its investment in the site ever since.

Venezuela's state oil company reportedly moved to protect its assets from Exxon Mobil Corp.'s legal reach Monday as experts speculated that the South American energy giant may be suffering a severe cash shortage. Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, instructed its traders to deposit oil receipts with UBS bank in Switzerland, the Reuters news agency reported Monday. The move follows Exxon Mobil's victory last week persuading U.S.

Venezuela on Tuesday suspended all commercial relations with Exxon Mobil Corp., including any deliveries of crude and oil products, amid a bitter dispute over the nationalization of the U.S. oil giant's heavy oil field. The move comes days after Exxon Mobil won backing from courts in the United States, Britain and the Netherlands to freeze as much as $12 billion in assets belonging to the Venezuelan state oil company as part of its strategy to recoup its investment.

BP and Royal Dutch Shell have agreed to form joint ventures with Venezuela's state oil company, replacing contracts under which they pumped crude independently, Venezuela's oil minister said Thursday. BP and Royal Dutch Shell are among 15 companies that have signed transitional agreements to move toward the joint ventures, Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said.

Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA may sell some parts of Citgo Petroleum Corp., its U.S. refining and marketing affiliate, PDVSA's new president said Sunday. "We're looking at it," said Rafael Ramirez, Venezuela's energy minister and the newly named president of PDVSA, in an interview with local television in Caracas. "It depends on the review we make. We'll see what suits us and what doesn't." Ramirez, who was appointed PDVSA chief by President Hugo Chavez on Nov.

Chevron Venezuela said it expects to sign an agreement within five weeks to build an $800-million to $900-million aromatics plant in Venezuela. The project will be a 50-50 joint venture between Chevron Venezuela, a unit of San Francisco-based Chevron Corp., and Productos Especiales, or Proesca, a unit of state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela. The plant will process refinery byproducts into commercial petroleum aromatics such as benzene, toluene and xylene.

Science Applications International Corp. said it has created an information technology company with state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, also known as PDVSA. San Diego-based SAIC, which is employee-owned, said the investment is its largest in Latin America. SAIC holds 60% of the joint venture, named Intesa, and PDVSA holds the other 40%. PDVSA declined to disclose the capitalization of the new company, which began operations Jan. 2.