ExxonMobil 'short-changed' in Venezuela

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez takes a sample of crude during his weekly broadcast at a nationalized oil field at Orinoco's belt in the southern strip of the eastern Orinoco River February 17, 2008. Chavez said on Sunday he will cut oil sales to the United States if Washington attacks the South American country as the country is in the midst of a legal battle with U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil, which recently won court orders freezing up to $12 billion in Venezuelan assets to ensure compensation for an oil project Chavez nationalized last year. REUTERS/Miraflores Palace/Handout (VENEZUELA). EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS.

Slim reward: heavy crude from the Orinoco belt

HO

By News Wires

 02 January 2012 09:48 GMT

An arbitration panel has awarded ExxonMobil $908 million in compensation for Venezuela's 2007 nationalisation of its assets, less than 10% of what the US supermajor sought in a long legal battle with the Opec nation.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez likely will celebrate the ruling as a vindication of his nationalist confrontation with oil companies aimed at increasing revenue from the industry to boost funding for state-led anti-poverty programmes.

But Venezuela faces another arbitration with ExxonMobil over the nationalization of the Cerro Negro heavy oil project, and more than a dozen pending claims from companies such as US giant ConocoPhillips resulting from a wave of state takeovers.

"They must be elated that they got off so cheap. It's certainly a happy new year for Venezuela," Russ Dallen, head bond…

Become an Upstream member!

Membership includes a subscription to our weekly newspaper providing in-depth news from the energy industry, plus full-access to this site and its archives. Still not convinced? Try our free trial.

Already a member?

Login

Upstream share price index