Reuters: Venezuela vows Orinoco oil takeover by May Day

President Bush said on Wednesday he was worried the centralization of political power in Venezuela was whittling away democratic institutions, but Chavez rejected all charges of tyranny.

"The president of the United States should resign, if he had the least dignity ... if only the United States had a democracy like what we have here. If only the American people could call a recall referendum," he added.

By Brian Ellsworth

24 minutes ago

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday set a May Day deadline
for the world's biggest oil companies to surrender control of multibillion-dollar crude projects,
speeding up nationalizations a day after he received powers to rule by decree.

His pledge, which affects firms such as Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Conoco Phillips, Statoil and BP Plc, forms a vital part of the nationalizations at the heart of Chavez's leftist revolution.

"I have given instructions that on May 1 -- May 1 -- all the fields of the Orinoco Belt should
wake up under our control," he told a news conference.

Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said the state would seize the projects if no deals were struck.
The U.S. Department of Energy condemned the nationalizations as "a disturbing trend away
from open and transparent market principles."

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