U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil said on Sunday an arbitration panel awarded it $908 million over a contractual dispute with Venezuela, following the South American nation's 2007 nationalization of its assets.

Exxon Mobil had filed a claim in 2007 with a World Bank arbitration tribunal seeking at least $7 billion in compensation

for a heavy oil project that President Hugo Chavez nationalized in a broad wave of state takeovers.

Venezuelan sources declined on Saturday to specify the amount Venezuela was ordered to pay, but said they saw the decision as favorable to Caracas.

(Reporting by Brian Ellsworth; Editing By Peter Cooney)