* "Non-monopoly" well service firms not subject to seizure
* Clarification follows nationalizations last month
By Pascal Fletcher
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, June 11 (Reuters) - Venezuela has "no reason" to nationalize foreign oil well drilling service companies that are not "monopolistic", in contrast to gas and water injection projects seized last month, the country's oil minister said on Thursday.
Rafael Ramirez said oil well service operations, such as
drilling rigs run by Halliburton Co
"There is no reason to touch that kind of service ... because they are not monopolistic," Ramirez told Reuters, in response to a question whether these major oil well service firms also could be hit by nationalization.
"They are not within the context of that law," he added.
Ramirez was speaking after a meeting in St. Kitts and Nevis of regional energy ministers from the 18-nation PetroCaribe energy alliance, that allows Caribbean and Central American states to buy Venezuelan oil on easier payment terms. Leaders of the Venezuelan-backed alliance are to meet on Friday.
Last month, President Hugo Chavez ordered the takeover of a
gas injection project in Venezuela owned by Williams Companies
Inc
Clarifying the move, Ramirez said that while these gas injection operations and other Lake Maracaibo oil service activities seized were "monopolistic" in character, drilling services could be contracted freely from one company or another.
Nevertheless, Venezuela's latest oil service company nationalizations, following the takeover by the government of mammoth heavy oil projects in 2007, have stoked fears of more government seizures in the strategic oil industry.
Halliburton, Schlumberger and Baker Hughes provide a range of services including exploration and enhancing output at existing fields.
If it occurred, the takeover of their operations in Venezuela could have repercussions in production and future investment in one of the world's major oil exporters.
Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA has run up large debts with service companies including Halliburton and Schlumberger and is trying to renegotiate tariffs with them.
Ramirez said this week the company had paid off $2 billion in debts to its service providers, of more than $7 billion it owed at the end of 2008. A preliminary report given by PDVSA to the national assembly earlier in the year had put the debt at almost double that. (Reporting by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)