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Venezuela says it has stopped selling oil to ExxonMobil

The state oil company of Venezuela said on Tuesday that it has stopped selling crude to ExxonMobil Corp in response to the US oil company's court bid to freeze billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets.

ExxonMobil is locked in a dispute over the nationalization of its Venezuelan oil ventures that has seen Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threaten to cut off all supply to the US. Venezuela is currently the US' fourth largest oil supplier.

Tuesday's announcement by state-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, was limited to ExxonMobil, which PDVSA accused of "judicial-economic harassment" for its efforts to freeze the company's assets in US and European courts.

PDVSA said it "has paralyzed sales of crude to ExxonMobil" and suspended commercial relations with the Irving, Texas-based company.

"The legal actions carried out by the US transnational are unnecessary ... and hostile," PDVSA's statement said. The company vowed to honor any existing contracts it has with ExxonMobil for joint investments abroad, but reserved the right to terminate them if the terms of the contracts allowed.

It was unclear how much oil PDVSA supplies to ExxonMobil, the world's largest oil company. Both Chavez and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez previously said the company is no longer welcome to do business in Venezuela.

The decision leaves unresolved the fate of a Chalmette, Louisiana, refinery -- a joint venture in which PDVSA and ExxonMobil are equal partners.

ExxonMobil declined to comment.

The company is challenging the Chavez government's nationalization of one of four heavy oil projects in the Orinoco River basin.
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