Exxon Mobil Terminal Seized in Nicaragua

Exxon Mobil Corp.'s fuel-storage terminal in Nicaragua was seized in a 'preventative embargo' after the world's biggest oil company failed to pay taxes on undeclared oil imports, the government said Tuesday.

Nicaragua may initiate additional legal measures against Exxon Mobil for "other debts," Lorena Romero, spokeswoman for the country's General Customs Services, said in an e-mailed statement.

Exxon Mobil said this week that armed men stormed the facility last Friday, taking control of part of the terminal in Puerto Corinto, about 100 miles northwest of Managua.

Crude-oil imports are tax-free, Exxon Mobil spokesman Alfredo Fernandez-Sivori said this week.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, when asked about the seizure, said a judicial investigation would be held.