Crystallex International

Caracas, 06 Sep. AVN. - The Minister of Petroleum and Mining and president of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), Rafael Ramirez, said Friday that the state will increase security in the operating areas "to protect the supreme interests of the country" .

"We will increase the security of our oil fields to safeguard the best interests of the motherland," Ramirez wrote through his Twitter user @ RramirezPDVSA, noting that during the morning met with the Military High Command "to review the development of the Orinoco Oil Belt and safety ".

The President of the country's main industry urged people to be vigilant in the defense of the interests of the country, following the decision of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) of the World Bank, released on Tuesday, on the application filed by the oil company ConocoPhillips against the Republic in 2007.

"They left the bigwigs, who gave them the oil multinationals, to review what they do not know: of dignity and sovereignty," wrote the President of PDVSA, referring to the representatives of the national right. "All the people alert and in defense of the interests of the country. Closed box in defense of our oil, our sovereignty," he added.

Similarly, Ramirez noted in another tweet: "It should be clear that ICSID not ruled on the amount of compensation. We will issue a public letter to the arbitral tribunal."

ConocoPhillips seeks compensation, royalties and repairs an amount exceeding 30,000 million dollars from the country, after Venezuela, asserting its policy of full sovereignty, decided to transform into joint ventures with majority shareholder agreements for the Nation signed operating in the 90s as part of the so-called oil opening, considered harmful to the interests of the Republic.

The multinational then migrate your agreement rejected participation in the Orinoco Oil Belt in Petrozuata developments, The Hammock and CoroCoro, now Petroanzoátegui, PetroPiar and Petrosucre, and decided to start legal proceedings.

In this process, the ICSID Tribunal issued a decision Tuesday on some edges recognizes the right of the Venezuelan government to invoke national jurisdiction and to establish a favorable tax scheme to the Nation, as it has been to increase the amounts of the royalties and income tax (income tax) paid by foreign oil companies in the country. However, the Court also ruled that Venezuela "failed in its duty to bargain in good faith."

In this regard, Ramirez said Wednesday that "the transnational is that it is acting in bad faith. We were in talks, but when the price of oil shoots up, they ran to the court to claim compensation that was out of the agreed ".

The Minister indicated that Venezuela, through the team handling the case, lodged another hearing before the ICSID tribunal.