Chavez is backing off his threats to cut oil sales to America that we recently told you about. According to Bloomberg, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on state television that, "We don't have plans to stop sending oil to the U.S. ... All I've said is that, if the U.S. attacks us, we'll have to decide not to send one drop of oil to the U.S." False alarm everyone, back to using gas. Chavez meant if we attacked him, he would stop oil shipments ... which would make sense.

While America is in good shape to receive Venezuelan oil, things are not developing as well for oil companies. Chavez did not back off stopping sales to Exxon and he is considering a "tax on sudden earnings." I kinda like that idea.

Related:

• Exxon is back at the top with record profits again
• BREAKING: Venezuela stops selling oil to Exxon
• Chavez might stop selling oil to the U.S.

[Source: Bloomberg]

Looks like Chavez was not kidding around when he said he would stop oil shipments. Late Tuesday, according to Reuters, Venezuela stopped selling oil to the Exxon Mobil. What does this mean? It's unclear and no one is commenting, according to MSNBC. We will have more as the story develops.

[Source: Reuters, MSNBC]

Every day, the U.S. imports roughly 1,150,000 to 1,200,000 barrels of oil from Venezuela. Venezuela is America's fourth-largest source of oil. Thanks to a legal tussle concerning Exxon Mobil and the country of Venezuela, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has threatened to stop exporting those barrels to America in an "economic war," according to the AP.

Here's what's happening: Exxon Mobil is trying to fend off the nationalization of a huge (i.e, multibillion dollar) oil project. The company is doing this by asking courts in the U.S., the UK and the Netherlands to sieze the assets of Venezuela's state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA. As Chavez put it on a radio address yesterday: "If you end up freezing (Venezuelan assets) and it harms us, we're going to harm you. Do you know how? We aren't going to send oil to the United States. Take note, Mr. Bush, Mr. Danger. ... I speak to the U.S. empire, because that's the master: continue and you will see that we won't sent one drop of oil to the empire of the United States. The outlaws of Exxon Mobil will never again rob us."

This isn't the first time Chavez has said something like this, but I can't think of anyone who needs to buy gas that will enjoy hearing this threat, whether it's acted on or not.

[Source: AP]