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(CNN) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened not to sell oil to European Union countries that follow new rules on immigration, but oil analysts said the threat was largely symbolic since no European country buys oil from Venezuela.
Instead, Venezuela sends what crude it does export to Europe to its own refineries there.
"Our oil shouldn't go to those countries" that voted for the EU's new policy, approved on Wednesday of detaining and deporting illegal immigrants, Chavez said in a televised address from Caracas.
The legislation lays out re-entry bans and maximum 18-month detention periods but also includes legal safeguards.
The directive "will encourage the voluntary return of illegal immigrants but otherwise lay down minimum standards for their treatment," according to the EU in a news release.
Parliament adopted the measure by a vote of 369 to 197, with 106 abstentions.
Britain and Ireland have not adopted the policy.
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