Right when you think you've heard the end of the all the oil nationalizations in Venezuela, we catch some news like this. Does the economic crisis make the administration more eager to violate property rights as the pie gets smaller and smaller in their system of patronage? Time for us to keep an eye on the few foreign investors left in the oil sector ... especially if Chavez decides to steal from the Russians... Today's Venezuela is the last place you want to find yourself in a price dispute.
Petroleos de Venezuela SA's Petrosucre joint venture "assumed operational control" of Ensco International Inc.'s offshore drilling rig Ensco 69 after the Dallas-based company halted operations in a payment dispute.PDVSA, as the Venezuela state oil company is known, is now operating the drill to complete a well in the northeastern Gulf of Paria, it said today in a statement. Richard LeBlanc, a spokesman for Ensco, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.
PDVSA's accounts payable to suppliers have risen along with a plunge in oil prices since July. Crude oil for March delivery fell $4.15 a barrel, or 9.1 percent, to $41.58 today in New York. It has fallen by more than $100 a barrel since setting a record $147.27 a barrel July 11.
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