CARACAS, Thursday January 29, 2009 | Update
Economy
US oil driller Helmerich & Payne said on Thursday that
Venezuela's state run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela
(Pdvsa) owes it nearly USD 100 million and that it began to
halt rigs in the South American country.
So far, two of Helmerich rigs in Venezuela have ceased operations,
and that number is likely to increase to five by the end of
February as the current work agreements expire, Reuters reported.
"In the absence of any improvement of receivable collections,
the remaining rigs would probably become idle by the end of
July this year," Helmerich said in its quarterly earnings
release.
However, Helmerich officials told investors on a conference
call that they hoped to solve the issue and return to normal
operations in a near future.
04:17 PM. Western Hemisphere. "Damned empire; I curse you one thousand times; some day you will be finished off and wrecked. I curse you one thousand times, empire." This is the least that President Hugo Chávez has uttered to refer to the US government. In urging the Bolivarian Armed Forces to prepare for war, he said that a US raid on Venezuela through Colombia would trigger and spread over the region "the 100-year war."