CARACAS, (Reuters) – President Hugo Chavez yesterday proposed changing the name of one of the world’s largest  oil companies and a major supplier of crude to the United  States, Venezuela’s state-run PDVSA, to Socialist Venezuelan  Petroleum.

During 11 years in office, Chavez has added a star to  Venezuela’s flag, created a new time zone half an hour out of  sync with its neighbours and even renamed the country — it is  now called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

The president has put large swathes of the economy under  government control, from multibillion dollar oil projects to  supermarket chains and coffee roasters.

The charismatic leader, often accused by critics of  creating a personality cult around himself, refrains from  putting his own name on streets or public works. But most  companies swept into his nationalization drive now bear names  linked to his leftist politics or to South American  independence hero Simon Bolivar.

“This country has started to be governed by the people, by  the working class, and this is a tool of the working class,”  Chavez said on his weekly TV show.

“The new homeland, the new PDVSA, Socialist Venezuelan  Petroleum,” he said, broadcasting from a heavy crude upgrader  controlled by ConocoPhillips until a 2007 nationalization.

PDVSA is ranked as the world’s fourth largest oil company  in an annual survey by industry publication Petroleum  Intelligence Weekly. It is South America’s top oil exporter and  a key supplier of crude to the United States.

Chavez said he ordered a study to see if the name could be  changed.