UPDATE 1-Venezuela mulls action against Cemex Fri Mar 12, 2010 10:58am EST * Venezuela seeking return of ships removed from country Stocks * Venezuela close to a deal compensating Holcim, Lafarge (Adds Cemex no comment, background) CARACAS, March 12 (Reuters) - Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Friday Venezuela is considering legal action to force Mexican cement firm Cemex (CX.N) (CMXCPO.MX) to return ships it removed from the country during a nationalization dispute. He added that Venezuela is close to a deal to compensate Switzerland's Holcim (HOLN.VX) and France's Lafarge SA (LAFP.PA), two other cement-makers also affected by President Hugo Chavez' government's 2008 takeover of the industry. "We are close to announcing a deal with Lafarge and Holcim," Ramirez told reporters at a briefing that mainly touched on oil industry matters. "We are taking legal actions to recover the boats that Cemex took from Venezuela, in the countries where they are." An international court earlier this month rejected a request by Cemex to protect it from further expropriations by Venezuela after a 2008 takeover of its Venezuelan assets. The Washington-based International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes said it could not take "preventive measures" in favor of Cemex, the world's No. 3 cement maker. [ID:nN04144081] Cemex had asked the ICSID to stop Venezuela from taking control of three Panama-based cement vessels that were under the control of Cemex's Venezuela operations before the August 2008 nationalization. Cemex was not immediately available for comment on Friday. But the company has repeatedly said it is open to talks with Venezuela and that it will push ahead with arbitration at the ICSID. Cemex is seeking $1.3 billion in compensation for the seizure of its assets in August 2008. Venezuela has offered about a third of that. (Reporting by Marianna Parraga in Caracas and Robin Emmott in Monterrey, Mexico; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Derek Caney)