That is going to end in the administration of Hugo Chavez Frias. They worry a government shakeup will derail or slow a multibillion-dollar expansion plan involving Mobil Corp., Exxon Corp., Atlantic Richfield Co. and others. Giusti scoffs at the attack. One result is that the company maintains overseas operations such as Tulsa, Okla.-based Citgo and Veba Oel AG in Germany that barely turn a profit, he says. It's a mystery.
Oil accounts for about three-quarters of Venezuela's export earnings.
BT Alex. Brown. Chavez says the plan is too much, too fast, and he wants the foreign companies to focus on refining crude oil and producing petrochemical products instead of just drilling wells and exporting crude oil. He argues that a worldwide cut in production orchestrated by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is what's needed to boost prices that this year hit a 12-year low. Its officials argue the days of strictly enforced OPEC quotas are over. If Venezuela cuts its production over the long run, they say, other countries will simply fill the gap.