Nationalisation drive: Hugo Chavez
PDVSA waits on judge's decision
The commercial court of the Royal Court of Justice in London has finished hearing arguments on whether to lift a $12 billion injunction freezing Venezuelan assets granted to ExxonMobil, but Justice Paul Walker will not hand down his written judgment until late next week at the earliest.
Gordon Pollock QC, who appeared before the court for Venezuela's state-run giant PDVSA, the subject of the injunction, said Mr Justice Walker had given no indication as to which way he would rule before he retired to consider his decision this afternoon.
However, Venezuelan Ambassador Samuel Moncada told Reuters the judge had informed the parties in private that he did not accept one of ExxonMobil's arguments, namely that the case was comparable to an earlier one in which an injunction was upheld.
In January, an English court granted an injunction to ExxonMobil which froze $12 billion of assets belonging to PDVSA pending arbitration over the Cerro Negro heavy oil project in the Orinoco belt, which was nationalised last May.
PDVSA appealed the injunction, saying the court had no jurisdiction, the amount was excessive and that there was no need for a freeze because it was not trying to put its assets beyond reach.
Venezuela's Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez described ExxonMobil's move as "legal terrorism", a reference Pollock reaffirmed in court today.
"They are acting like the Al-Qaeda of the oil world," he said.
Yesterday Opec expressed support for Venezuela and PDVSA in exercising its sovereign rights.
Pollock told the court the injunction was simply a negotiating tactic on ExxonMobil's part, adding that PDVSA's reputation would be enhanced internationally if it ignored it and acted in contempt of the UK courts.
Leftist President Hugo Chavez told foreign oil companies last year to cede a majority stake in four Orinoco belt projects or leave the country. Most agreed but analysts said the prices offered for their stakes were around half their true value.
ExxonMobil has also been granted injunctions by courts in the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles. An application for an injunction is also pending in a US federal court.