WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States backed Exxon Mobil Corp's effort on Wednesday to win compensation from Venezuela for seized assets in a case that has prompted the OPEC nation to threaten to cut off oil supplies to America.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a foe of the UnitedStates, says Exxon court victories that resulted in $12 billion(6.11 billion pounds) in Venezuelan assets being frozen overthe seizure is part of an "economic war" to unseat him directedby the Bush administration.
Despite its support for Exxon, the United States denies itis working to oust Chavez and has distanced itself from thespecific legal case.
"We fully support the efforts of Exxon Mobil to get a justand fair compensation package for their assets according to thestandards of international law," said State Departmentspokesman Sean McCormack.
"But we are not involved in that dispute. It is somethingthat has to be litigated between Venezuela and Exxon Mobil andvarious courts around the world," he added.
Chavez stopped oil exports to Exxon on Tuesday, escalatingVenezuela's multibillion-dollar fight with the U.S. companyover his nationalization of a project last year that waspart-owned by Exxon and Britain's BP.
Separately, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice toldlawmakers on Capitol Hill that U.S. officials were looking intowhether a recently reported deal between Venezuela's state-runoil company and Iran violates U.S. law.
Rice said she was examining issues raised by Rep. IleanaRos-Lehtinen about a reported $1 billion deal late last yearbetween Venezuela's state-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA, whichowns the Citgo subsidiary in the United States, and Iran'sPetropars, a unit of the National Iranian Oil Company.
Ros-Lehtinen wrote to Rice and Treasury Secretary HenryPaulson last week asking they probe whether Citgo benefitedfrom the company's deal with Iran. She also asked whether thedeal violates the "letter or the spirit" of the U.S. IranSanctions Act, intended to deter investment in Iran.
"I want to thank you for raising the question. Of course,we're looking into it," Rice told Ros-Lehtinen, a FloridaRepublican, during an appearance before the House ForeignAffairs Committee. A Citgo spokesman in Houston could not bereached for comment.
Britain, where a court issued a temporary ruling in favourof Exxon over Chavez's seizure, also sought to distance itselffrom the Exxon case on Wednesday to avoid harming ties with theOPEC nation.
"The judiciary is independent. It's important to avoid thatthis adversely affects the good ties we have with Venezuela,"British Ambassador Catherine Royle told reporters after dozensof Venezuelans protested the court ruling outside the embassyin Caracas.
Exxon and fellow American oil company ConocoPhillips quitVenezuela over a wave of nationalizations last year. BP was oneof several European companies that struck deals to remain inthe seized projects as minority partners.
(Reporting by Sue Pleming and Susan Cornwell; additionalreporting by Saul Hudson in Caracas, Editing by Sandra Malerand Eric Beech)
