An international arbitration panel has awarded ExxonMobil US$1.6 billion for Venezuelan assets seized in 2007.
The World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) decided unanimously that Venezuela has to pay damages to oil company ExxonMobil totaling $1.6 billion.
ExxonMobil originally petitioned for $14.7 billion in reimbursement for assets taken by state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), after the international oil company refused to accepted the contract and compensation terms offered by Hugo Chavez's government.
ICSID published details of the decision on its website yesterday (icsid.worldbank.org).
Venezuela "shall pay" damages of $9,042,482 "for production and export curtailments imposed on the Cerro Negro Project in 2006 and 2007."
In addition, ICSID decided Venezuela shall pay $1.4117 billion "in compensation for the expropriation of their [ExxonMobil's] investments in the Cerro Negro Project," plus an additional $179 million for the takeover of La Ceiba project.
The total amount Venezuela will pay could be reduced, because the arbitration award outlines that "the plaintiffs are willing to make the required reimbursements to PDVSA" to avoid "double compensation."
Venezuela has the highest number of pending complaints at the ICSID. Following the ExxonMobil award, an additional 26 claims are still pending settlement.
Read more: Original 135-page award document for ICSID Case No. ARB/07/27, issued 9 October 2014.
The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) is an intergovernmental institution established by treaty, designed to promote the settlement of disputes between sovereign states and private foreign investors. ICSID is a dispute resolution organization, not an international court or tribunal.
The ICSID Convention entered into force on 14 October 1966. There are currently 159 signatory States to the ICSID Convention.
ICSID is based in Washington, DC. ICSID Secretary-General is Meg Kinnear.
Subscribe
