Venezuela has confirmed it has paid $1.8 billion in compensation to French, Norwegian and Italian oil companies for nationalizing key oil fields in the Orinoco basin in 2006.
France’s Total, Norway’s Statoil and Italy’s ENI gained the settlement after they accepted the book price for the assets Venezuela’s state-run PDVSA oil company took over.
America’s ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips remain in dispute with Venezuela. ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips have taken the dispute to international arbitration under a unit of the World Bank, and ExxonMobil has also asked courts in the United States, Britain, the Netherlands and the Dutch Antilles to freeze $12 billion of PDVSA’s global assets.
The move has led to a court in New York freezing $300 million of PDVSA assets, but drawn retaliation from Venezuela, which has suspended oil supplies to ExxonMobil.
Is there anyone that Exxon is not in conflict with? The Alaskans over the Exxon Valdez, and potentially the gas pipeline, the Venezuelans, and most of the world over climate change ….