Major world oil producers assured the United States they could compensate for a considerable supply disruption, amid threats from the Venezuelan government to suspend its exports, a US government official told Reuters on Tuesday.

"Other major oil producers have assured they can compensate for significant disruptions of any nature," said the official, who declined to be named due to sensitivity of the issue.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened to shut off crude shipments to the United States after US oil major Exxon Mobil Corp. won court rulings freezing billions of dollars of assets of the Venezuelan state oil company.  Exxon aims at obtaining a compensation after the nationalization of Cerro Negro project.

The move by Exxon was a means of guaranteeing payment in the event it wins an arbitration case brought over the nationalization of its stake in a multibillion-dollar Venezuelan heavy oil project.

Venezuela Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez reiterated the threat made by president Chavez in remarks published by a newspaper on Tuesday.

Venezuela is the fourth-biggest supplier of crude to the United States, and energy analysts have said any interruption to shipments could tighten inventories and push prices higher. US crude oil prices hit a one-month high near USD 95 a barrel on Monday on worries of a Venezuelan oil halt, but have since retreated to below $93.

The White House officially steered clear of the dispute between Exxon and Venezuela.
"When there's a litigation that's ongoing, different parties will say anything to try to win over on an argument," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters in Washington. "And it's not something that the federal government is going to get involved in."