Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA has moved its export payment accounts to UBS bank in Switzerland after Exxon Mobil secured an embargo of up to $12 billion of PDVSA's global assets.
Exxon Mobil won rulings from courts in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands that froze assets belonging to PDVSAto ensure compensation for President Hugo Chavez's takeover of a multibillion-dollar oil project last year.
A source said Exxon lawyers had told banks that one of the court rulings meant they had to at least maintain the current level of funds PDVSA holds in any account in the Netherlands Antilles island.