Official: Many foreign oil companies agree to pay taxes owed to Venezuela

In comments reported Sunday by the state-run Bolivarian News Agency, tax agency chief Jose Vielma Mora said officials plan a meeting Thursday with diplomats and oil company representatives to discuss the payments. He said most of those companies have already decided to pay what they owe, according to the news agency. Officials have estimated the amount owed by oil companies with 32 operating agreements in Venezuela at some $2 billion US for a period spanning the last 10 years, Vielma Mora said. Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez has previously said companies that run the agreements owe some $3 billion in back taxes, and that companies with heavy crude upgrading projects in the Orinoco tar belt owe more than $1 billion in unpaid royalties. Representatives of major oil companies in Venezuela have yet to announce how they will respond to the claims of owed taxes.

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