Venezuela to move state oil company's Lisbon office to Moscow

MOSCOW - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has instructed the country's state-owned oil and natural gas company PDVSA to relocate its office in Lisbon to Moscow, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said here Friday.

The decision was made as Venezuela plans to expand oil production cooperation with Russian oil giant Rosneft and gas giant Gazprom, Rodriguez said at a press conference after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"Now is the right moment to do it. We are reformatting our relations, and Europe does not give us the necessary guarantees, because the capitalist world violates its own laws," Rodriguez said.

"They are not able to guarantee the integrity of our assets," she said, accusing Britain of seizing Venezuelan gold kept in the Bank of England and the United States of "practically stealing" from PDVSA's US unit Citgo Petroleum.

Venezuela will undertake legal steps to guarantee its right for the defense of its legitimate interests, litigation and the return of its assets in any country, Rodriguez said.