Venezuela halts oil supplies to Exxon Mobil

Venezuela's oil minister, Rafael Ramirez, said fellow OPEC members had expressed solidarity with the South American nation in the fight and consulted with the oil producers group's lawyers on a defense strategy.

But an official of the Bush administration, which has distanced itself from the Exxon action, said the United States had lined up allies in the spat too.

Other major oil producers have assured Washington they would make up for any interruption to Venezuelan supplies, said the official who declined to be named, adding a cutoff would hurt ordinary Venezuelans.

And the head of the International Energy Agency, which coordinates the release of global crude oil and refined product stockpiles in the event of a major supply disruption, said the group was willing to act if needed.

It was not immediately clear whether PDVSA would still supply some crude to Chalmette or what it would do with the excess crude that would normally go to the U.S. company.

Exxon Mobil said it will act to ensure supply to its clients.

"It is our long-standing practice to take appropriate steps to meet our customer needs," spokeswoman Margaret Ross said.

(Additional reporting by Matthew Robinson in New York and Michael Erman in Houston; writing by Saul Hudson; editing by David Gregorio and Mohammad Zargham)