MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US and French oil companies pay Venezuela back taxes

U.S. oil firm Chevron-Texaco and France's Total have accepted to pay the Venezuelan government some 113.5 million US dollars in back taxes, dating from the 2001/2004 period, announced Wednesday the Venezuelan tax office, SENIAT.

Jose Vielma, head of SENIAT, said that Chevron had agreed to pay 74.8 million US dollars which includes taxes and fines for late payment. Total's back bill is 38.6 million US dollars.

SENIAT insists that the 22 oil and gas companies operating in Venezuela incorrectly calculated their taxes for the 2002/04 period and must therefore pay the difference.

Starting in mid-2005, SENIAT began demanding payment of back taxes and interest from 17 companies and 14 consortiums doing business in Venezuela in energy and other fields.

Vielma said in late 2005 that foreign oil companies owed an estimated "3 billion US dollars" in taxes to the Venezuelan treasury.

Venezuela is the world's fifth largest oil exporter and one of the United States main suppliers. The country's reserves are estimated to rank eighth globally with Saudi Arabia top of the list.

However, US Department of Energy (DoE) analysts indicate that at an average 50 US dollars a barrel, Venezuela and not Saudi Arabia, will have the biggest oil reserves among OPEC members.

Venezuela has vast deposits of extra-heavy oil and tar sands in the Orinoco basin which traditionally are not inventoried because they were too expensive to exploit, but at 50 US dollars melting them into liquid petroleum becomes extremely profitable.

Actually a DoE report shows that at today's prices Venezuela's oil reserves are bigger than those of the entire Middle East - including Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, Iran and Iraq. The US agency also identifies Canada as another future oil superpower.

Venezuela's deposits alone could extend the oil age for another 100 years.

The DoE estimates that the Venezuelan government controls 1.3 trillion barrels of oil - more than the entire declared oil reserves of the rest of the planet.