Rafael Ramirez, Venezuela's energy minister, on Friday rejected concerns that PDVSA, the state oil company, would be affected by attempts by ExxonMobil to freeze assets worth $12bn. Exxon won court orders on Thursday in the UK, the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles to freeze PDVSA's global assets in an attempt to secure compensation for operations lost to President Hugo Chavez's nationalisation drive last year. "This does not affect our cash flow or our operations at all. We are operating at 100 per cent, and there are no direct consequences for our assets,' said Mr Ramirez, after PDVSA's dollar-denominated bonds suffered their steepest fall in six months. Last year, Exxon walked away from projects worth up to $2.3bn in Venezuela's Orinoco Belt, which is believed to contain the world's largest deposits of extra-heavy crude oil. This came after the group failed to reach an agreement over its revised contract when PDVSA announced it would increase its stake to a majority. According to Patrick Esteruelas, an analyst at Eurasia Group, if the court orders are upheld, PDVSA's ability to raise finance for ambitious investment plans and growing spending obligations could be limited. PDVSA's debt jumped from $3bn to $16bn last year amid concerns that it was suffering a cash shortage because of Mr Chavez's use of its financial resources for political ends. Exxon's move could also complicate PDVSA's strategy of selling overseas refining assets, after it divested some owned by its subsidiary Citgo in the US last year. PDVSA still has stakes in 14 refineries in the US, Europe and the Caribbean worth about $15bn. The legal challenge will set a precedent for companies seeking compensation from PDVSA over the Orinoco projects. Conoco