Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
broken clouds
weather
OMAN
23°C / 23°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Chevron evacuates Venezuela executives following staff arrests

1318909
1318909
minus
plus

WASHINGTON: US oil major Chevron Corp has evacuated executives from Venezuela after two of its workers were imprisoned over a contract dispute with state-owned oil company PDVSA, according to four sources familiar with the matter.


Chevron asked other employees to avoid the facilities of its joint venture with the Opec nation’s oil firm, the sources said. The arrests, in a raid by national intelligence officers, were the first at a foreign oil firm since Venezuela’s government launched a purge last fall that has resulted in detentions of more than 80 executives at PDVSA and business partners accused of corruption.


The Chevron workers may face charges of treason for refusing to sign a supply contract for furnace parts drawn up by PDVSA executives, Reuters reported earlier this week. The workers balked at the high costs of the parts and a lack of competitive bids.


Venezuela’s foreign minister, Jorge Arreaza, linked the Chevron arrests to the government anti-corruption probe for the first time on Wednesday.


“In our oil industry and in its relationships with other countries, there has been corruption,” Arreaza said at a news conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York that was broadcast on Venezuela state television. “The decisions of the prosecutor’s office are based on serious investigations to fight corruption... These two people involved have the right to defence and due process.”


Of Chevron’s evacuation of executives, Arreaza said: “The logical decision would be to turn themselves over to authorities and demonstrate their innocence... not to flee.”


Chevron spokeswoman Isabel Ordonez responded to the minister’s comments with a written statement that the firm “abides by a code of business ethics, under which we comply with all applicable US and Venezuelan laws.”


Chevron’s move to evacuate its expatriate workforce underscores the how arduous it has become for foreign oil firms and their workers to sustain operations through Venezuela’s accelerating political and economic meltdown. The affected staff numbers about 30 people in the coastal city of Puerto la Cruz. Chevron’s Ordonez said the company had an executive team overseeing operations in Venezuela but declined to provide details on the leadership there or the number and type of workers the company had withdrawn.


Last week, the company said it was working for the release of the detained workers, Carlos Algarra and Rene Vasquez, who are represented by Chevron lawyers.


Chevron has no plans to exit the country, according to a person familiar with the thinking of its board of directors. The oil company has not pulled out of other tough environments in the past, the person said — citing the jailing of employees in Indonesia in 2013 — and the firm believes Venezuela will eventually stabilise. — Reuters


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon