Hundreds of supporters of Venezuela's state oil company have gathered outside the Petroleos de Venezuela S.A's headquarters to protest against multinational Exxon Mobil. Protesters say the U.S. oil giant intends to undermine Venezuela's sovereignty.

Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez addressed members of Congress on the legal battle with Exxon. He said the U.S. company is staging an economic war against his country.

Exxon Mobil is a company with close ties to the extreme right in the United States. They are trying to hold our national oil company hostage by judicial terrorism in order to create a state of fear and anxiety in our country.

Ramirez said Exxon Mobil is demanding more than ten times the compensation deserves from Venezuela for nationalizing one of its oil ventures.

But the amount the US company could lose as a result of Venezuela's nationalization last year wouldn't even match ten percent of the assets the company has sought to freeze in court.

Exxon Mobil is seeking to freeze assets belonging to Venezuela's state oil company to guarantee a payoff for the industry's nationalization.

A British court injunction last month ordered up to 12 billion US dollars of Venezuela's oil company assets to be temporarily frozen.

Earlier this week, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened to cut off all oil shipments to the United States in response to Exxon Mobil's legal challenges.