Venezuela Ordered to Pay ConocoPhillips $8.7 Billion Over Asset Seizures

(Bloomberg) — A judge in Washington, D.C., ordered Venezuela to pay about $8.7 billion to ConocoPhillips as compensation for seizing the energy company’s interests in oil projects.

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US District Judge Carl Nichols issued his order Friday to enforce an arbitration award that ConocoPhillips won in 2019. The company’s motion default judgment was granted because Venezuela hasn’t entered an appearance or responded with court filings, Nichols wrote.

Venezuela, which is the target of US trade sanctions, must pay $8.5 billion in damages, plus about $22 million for reimbursement of legal costs, according to the filing.

In 2013, the International Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes, which manages arbitration proceedings between contracting states, ruled that Venezuela had unlawfully taken the ConocoPhillips’ stakes in three oil projects without paying. The company had alleged the move violated a treaty between the Netherlands and Venezuela.

Venezuela’s government said in a statement it was denied the right to represent itself in court, adding the decision is “unfair” and violated international law. “This illegal and null decision pretends” to “help the handling of Venezuelan assets to foreign powers”.

The case is: ConocoPhillips v. Venezuela, 19-cv-00683, US District Court, District of Columbia.

(Updates with Venezuela’s government reaction in second to last paragraph)