Chavez ousts oil giants

CARACAS - President Hugo Chavez pushed US oil giants Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips out of Venezuela yesterday after they failed to strike a deal to stay in multibillion-dollar projects that the anti-US leader decreed should be taken over.

Four other oil majors - Chevron, Norway's Statoil, Britain's BP and France's Total - signed pacts allowing Venezuela to raise its stake to as much as 83 per cent in projects worth US$30 billion ($39.6 billion).

- REUTERS