ConocoPhillips: No Menace With Orinoco Project in Venezuela

US oil and gas giant ConocoPhillips CEO James Mulva said on Tuesday that Venezuelan officials have not threatened the company with taking over its projects in the vast Orinoco reserve without compensation.

He added that talks with Venezuela over issues surrounding expropriation of assets of foreign oil companies will last "weeks or months" beyond the May 1 deadline for Caracas to take over majority ownership of fields in the Orinoco belt.