Venezuela Paid Off $1.8bn to European Oil Firms

The Venezuelan government has paid $1.8bn in compensation to French, Norwegian and Italian oil firms after it nationalised key oil fields.

The US oil major Exxon Mobil, which's seeking $12bn in compensation from Venezuela's state energy group, PDVSA, did not get anything due to dispute with the country.

Venezuela has accused Exxon of exaggerating the value of the firm's former investments in the country, which amounted to $1.2bn.

France's Total, Norway's Statoil and Italy's ENI agreed to the settlement after accepting the book price for the assets that PDVSA took over.