By Frank Jack Daniel
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela on Tuesday suspended oil exports to Exxon Mobil Corp, escalating the country's fight with the U.S. oil giant over compensation for a heavy crude project nationalized by President Hugo Chavez.
Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA said it had suspended commercial relations and cut the supply of crude and petroleum products to America's largest company.
"Faced with the legal-economic harassment started by Exxon Mobil against PDVSA and as an act of reciprocity, PDVSA has decided to suspend commercial relations," the Venezuelan company said in a statement.
In 2007, left-wing Chavez increased state control over several projects in the Orinoco oil belt and forced Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips
Last week Exxon Mobil
In the statement PDVSA said it would respect existing contracts governing shared investments with Exxon, but reserved the right to break contracts whose terms so allowed.
The U.S. oil major said it could not immediately comment on the news.
Earlier on Tuesday, Exxon Mobil said it was interested in holding substantive talks with Venezuela to negotiate fair compensation for seizure of the project based in one of the world's largest oil deposits.
(Reporting by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by David Gregorio)
