Venezuelan President Hugo Ch??vez celebrated May Day, the international workers ' holiday. by issuing a decree that transferred control of the country's last privately owned oil fields to government control. The state will own at least 60% of every oil field in the country. and Ch??vez encouraged the companies owning the remainder to retain their minority holdings. in order to help develop the fields and refine the crude oil. The U.S. oil companies Chevron, Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, the British company BP's. Norway Statoil and's France Total agreed to the transfer of control. although negotiations over compensation still have several weeks to go. Ch??vez has announced that he may nationalize private hospitals and the steel and banking industries as well.
