CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Any suggestion that Venezuela would privatize the country's oil sector by selling parts of the state-run oil company is unpatriotic, a minister said.
Venezuelan Petroleum Minister Rafael Ramirez said opposition forces in the country were taking actions against the state by proposing a selling of shares in state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, known by its initials PDVSA.
"(Opposition leaders) are proposing elimination of the Ministry of Petroleum, in order to prevent the government from taking decisions on this issue," he was quoted by Venezuelan news agency El Universal as saying.
Caracas in 2007 ordered international oil companies to transform their production agreements into ones that made them minority shareholders with PDVSA in the Orinoco belt. The government is locked in a court battle with Exxon Mobil over that decision.
Ramirez is the president of PDVSA. His country holds some of the largest oil deposits in the world, leading the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
