Venezuela says it will not seize all oil services

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuela will not nationalize all the oil service companies present in the country, Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Tuesday, adding that gas and water injection units seized last month were "monopolistic."

Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA has run up large debts with service companies including Halliburton Co and Schlumberger Ltd and is trying to renegotiate tariffs with them.

Venezuelan Minister of Energy & Petroleum Rafael Ramirez. AFP PHOTO

Last month President Hugo Chavez ordered the takeover of a large gas injection project owned by Williams Companies Inc along with a smaller water injection operation, both used to enhance output from oil fields.

"Here the big question is ... are we going absorb all the oil service activities? I want to clarify that, it's not like that," Ramirez said in a news conference about PDVSA's 2008 financial results. 

Ramirez said the company had paid off $2 billion in debts to its service providers, of more than $7 billion it owed at the end of 2008. A preliminary report given by PDVSA to the national assembly earlier in the year had put the debt at almost double that.

Ramirez also said the company had paid out $400 million in dividends to minority partners, of a total $2 billion owed. Venezuela has several joint ventures with companies that include France's Total SA and BP.

The report, posted this week on the PDVSA website, shows a doubling in exports to Asia of oil and products, to 422,000 barrels per day, from 199 barrels per day.

Exports to North America, mainly to the United States, fell to 1.5 million bpd from 1.7 million bpd in 2007.

He said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries should not even talk about raising oil output, adding that global inventory levels were "worrying."

"I don't believe OPEC is talking about raising production, and neither should we talk about that," Ramirez said.

He also said Venezuela was looking for $1.5 billion in financing for work at its El Palito and Puerto La Cruz refineries.

Venezuela's refineries have been plagued by accidents and delayed work over the last year. The catalytic cracker at the El Palito refinery missed a May restart date after several months of maintenance and expansion works.