CPC to meet with Venezuelan officials to discuss dispute

State-owned CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) plans to send a delegation to meet with their Venezuelan counterparts in Houston, Texas, to discuss a dispute over oil exploration rights, company president Chen Bao-lang (陳寶郎) said yesterday.

Chen said that the CPC has retained a lawyer to deal with the dispute over its right to explore oil resources in Venezuela.

Should the bilateral negotiations in Houston fail, the CPC does not rule out filing a lawsuit against the Venezuelan government to defend its oil exploration rights, Chen said.

buy back

The Venezuelan National Petroleum Corp (VNPC) is planning to buy back oil exploration rights of small investors with a shareholding of less than 10 percent in any particular investment project.

CPC holds a 7.5 percent stake in an oil exploration cooperation project with the VNPC and has invested approximately US$78 million in two oil fields in Venezuela -- the Gulf of Paria West and Gulf of Paria East blocks, Chen said.

not acceptable

Even if the Venezuelan government is willing to buy back CPC's oil exploration rights at a higher price, the company will not accept it given the high demand for oil in Taiwan, he said.

In addition to Venezuela, the CPC has oil and gas operations in five countries -- Ecuador, Indonesia, Australia, Chad and the US.

CPC also signed an exploration agreement with the Libyan National Oil Corp to tap an oil field in the North African nation last April.