|
Former executives at state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, permitted international companies to blatantly violate contracts by extracting billions of barrels of light, sweet oil without investing in technology required to produce heavy crude, Chavez said.
"The transnational companies did not comply with the agreements," Chavez said on his weekly radio and television program. "They never invested in technology so they wouldn't have to spend money."
Chavez frequently complains of widespread government graft and corruption during a period popularly referred to as the Fourth Republic
-- the period from the fall of Venezuela's last dictator in 1958 through Chavez's first election in 1998.
"Those who signed and approved those agreements during the Fourth Republic, violating the constitution and the laws, should go to trial," Chavez said.
Chavez's government took majority control of Venezuela's last privately run oil projects on May 1, giving foreign oil companies the option of accepting less profitable terms or stop pumping petroleum.
[Associated Press]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed. |
