Venezuela says almost ready to take over Orinoco oil

CARACAS, Jan 13 (Reuters) Venezuela is ''almost ready'' to nationalize the foreign-run projects that develop the tarry,heavy crude of the Orinoco Belt into fuel, President Hugo Chavez said today.

Foreign companies running the projects include Chevron, Conoco Phillips, Exxon Mobil, Statoil and BP.

''We are now almost ready for the nationalization,'' Chavez said in an address to parliament.

Chavez's increased rhetoric on the Orinoco projects comes as he deepens his socialist revolution, nationalizing utilities and stripping the central bank of its autonomy.

Venezuela has long been pushing to take a 51-per cent stake in the Orinoco oil projects, which produce about 600,000 barrels per day, but faces a battle in wresting control away from the foreign firms.

A senior Venezuelan oil official last month acknowledged that the Caribbean state could face hundreds of millions of dollars in fines if it takes over the projects, because of financing agreements with international banks.

REUTERS AB RN2303