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Learning English - Words in the News 02 February, 2007 - Published 18:34 GMT Chavez begins to pressure foreign oil giants | ||||||||||||
Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez has said that his government will control all oil programmes in the Orinoco Belt by May 1st. Some people believe that Mr Chavez is using the announcement to pressure foreign oil giants into quickly signing new agreements with the government. This report from Jeremy McDermott: President Chavez is wasting no time. Just a day after congress granted him special powers he has begun turning the screws on the international oil companies. Mr Chavez was given new powers by the National Assembly to allow him to accelerate the move towards his new political and economic model, called ‘Socialism of the 21st Century’. Venezuela sits astride the largest oil reserves outside of the Middle East and the oil industry is the motor of the economy and the source of most of the government's revenue. Mr Chavez said that part of the new socialist Venezuela will be the nationalization of natural resources. He is not planning to expel foreign companies as he needs their expertise and technology to extract and upgrade Venezuela's heavy crude, but he does want majority control of all ventures and a greater share of the profits. It remains to be seen whether the multinationals like Chevron, Exxon Mobil, and BP will give in to Mr Chavez's brinksmanship as they know he needs them as much as they need access to his oil. turning the screws on model sits astride nationalization expel crude majority control ventures It remains to be seen brinksmanship |
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