FACTBOX: Venezuela's nationalizations under Hugo Chavez

(Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday announced the nationalization of one of the nation's largest banks, Banco de Venezuela, owned by Spain's Grupo Santander.

The self-styled revolutionary last year launched a broad nationalization campaign in the energy and telecommunications industries as part of a crusade to boost government control over the economy.

The following are the principal nationalizations carried out by the Chavez government and the foreign companies affected by the takeovers:

OIL

During the second half of last year, Venezuela took a majority stake in four heavy oil projects operating in the Orinoco River basin worth an estimated $30 billion (15.1 billion pounds).

U.S. companies Exxon and ConocoPhillips quit the OPEC nation over the move and filed arbitration claims against Venezuela seeking compensation.

France's Total and Norway's StatoilHydro received a combined total of about $1 billion in compensation after agreeing to reduce their holdings to stay on in the projects.

Britain's BP and U.S.-based Chevron remained as minority partners without losing their shares in the projects.

Industry analysts said the companies that chose to stay were motivated mainly by a desire to keep a foothold in a country with some of the largest reserves outside the Middle East.