Less than a year since president Hugo Chávez seized control of the vast oil fields in Venezuela's Orinoco belt, executives from international energy companies are back, armed with smiles, pens and cordial handshakes.

US oil groups ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips spurned the compensation offered by Caracas, preferring to fight it out in the courts - Exxon is awaiting a ruling in London this week. But France's Total, Norway's Statoil-Hydro and Italy's Eni have signed potentially significant new deals.