Venezuela denies PDVSA asset freeze

CARACAS, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Venezuelan government on Friday denied that the state-owned oil company PDVSA has had 12 billion U.S. dollars in assets frozen by court orders obtained by Exxon Mobil Corp.

"We do not have any asset frozen," said Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez who is also PDVSA's president.

But he admitted that 300 million dollars of PDVSA assets are "temporarily awaiting court decisions from New York."

Exxon Mobil won court orders on Thursday in Britain, the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles to freeze PDVSA's global assets, as the former seeks compensation for operations lost to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's nationalization drive last year.

The issue "does not affect us at all, neither in our cash flow,nor in our operation," Ramirez said, adding that it would be resolved in an international arbitrage.

"PDVSA is operating at 100 percent and is exporting oil all over the world," said Ramirez, calling it a "propagandistic maneuver" by Exxon Mobil which is "against us to create panic."

Ramirez said Exxon Mobil's attitude is "typical of U.S. foreign enterprises that historically have tried to attack oil producers or impose their views on the management of natural resources."

After failing to reach an agreement over its revised contract when PDVSA announced it would increase its stake to a majority, Exxon Mobil walked away from projects worth up to 2.3 billion U.S.dollars in Venezuela's Orinoco belt last year.

In a letter presented to a Federal Court in Manhattan, Exxon Mobil said the Supreme Court in England and Wales already granted the asset freezing petition presented by Exxon Mobil against PDVSA.

The court in Manhattan will hand down its ruling in court hearings to be held on February 13.

CARACAS/NEW YORK, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- The battle between Venezuela and U.S. company Exxon Mobil on contract disputes was incandesced on Friday and triggered oil market concerns.

Courts in Britain, the Netherlands and the United States agreed to freeze assets worthy of some 12 billion U.S. dollars owned by Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), announced Exxon on Friday.