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Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has forced six global oil giants to transfer equity stakes of 60 per cent or more in four key heavy-oil ventures to state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela. The four companies Chevron, BP, France's Total, and Norway's Statoil signed agreements with Energy & Oil Minister Rafael Ramírez. However, two big players, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips have decided to exit the South American country - a move likely to hit Venezuela's oil output. ExxonMobil's and ConocoPhillip's exit comes at time when Venezuela is hoping to attract more than $21 billion in investment from foreign oil companies. The goal: to boost daily oil output to 5.2 million barrels per day by 2012, up from its current 2.4 million. Venezuela, currently OPEC's fourth-largest producer, plans to spend $77 billion overall in the next five years. But with the shake-up in the industry, many analysts doubt Chávez will achieve his goals.
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