Chavez Threatens To Cut Off Oil To U.S.

February 11, 2008 · Filed Under World News

President Hugo Chavez on Sunday threatened to cut off oil sales to the United States in an “economic war” if Exxon Mobil Corp. wins court judgments to seize billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets.

Exxon Mobil has gone after the assets of state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA in U.S., British and Dutch courts as it challenges the nationalization of a multibillion dollar oil project by Chavez’s government.

A British court has issued an injunction “freezing” as much as $12 billion in assets.

It’s likely that the Bush administration will call his bluff, because the Venezuela’s oil only accounts for around 12% of U.S. oil imports, but U.S. is Venezuela’s biggest customer by far. The only thing that keeps the Chavez dictatorship going are the countries oil exports.

It would be financial suicide for Chavez to cutoff his biggest customer, so this sounds like nothing more than the usual reckless, empty rhetoric we usually here from this guy.

-Chris Jones