ConocoPhillips has been granted a string of licenses by the US authorities that enable the oil and fuel producer to raised place itself to get better some or all the roughly $10 billion it’s owed by Venezuela after the nation seized and nationalized its property greater than a decade in the past, in keeping with folks accustomed to the matter.
The US licenses assist Houston-based ConocoPhillips to advance authorized efforts in international locations world wide the place Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the state-owned oil firm, has money accounts, stated the individuals who requested to not be named as a result of the data is non-public.
The licenses relate particularly to permitting the corporate to recoup the cash owed from PDVSA with out operating afoul of US sanctions. They aren’t associated to ConocoPhillips restarting any bodily operations in Venezuela, provided that the corporate hasn’t operated there since then-President Hugo Chavez seized its property years in the past, the folks stated.
The licenses had been granted in current months, one of many folks stated.
Earlier this 12 months, a court docket in Trinidad and Tobago allowed ConocoPhillips to implement a $1.33 billion declare towards Venezuela for the seizing of its property within the nation years in the past, Reuters reported on the time. The ruling granted the oil main the precise to grab any compensation to Venezuela from joint fuel initiatives with Trinidad.
The US Treasury Division, whose Workplace of Overseas Belongings Management points such licenses, declined to remark.
In a response to request for touch upon the licenses, ConocoPhillips stated: “We’re dedicated to pursuing all accessible authorized avenues to guard our rights and acquire a full and truthful restoration of the awards in recognition of our fiduciary accountability to our shareholders.”
Entrance of the Line
Within the international locations the place PDVSA has monetary accounts, gaining such US licenses permits ConocoPhillips to place itself effectively among the many different entities searching for to get better cash owed by Venezuela in order that when the money from these PDVSA accounts is finally dispersed, ConocoPhillips is at or close to the entrance of the road, the folks stated.
Venezuela, which has the world’s largest crude reserves and was a founding member of the Group of Petroleum Exporting International locations, has seen oil output plunge by greater than 70% because the earliest days of the twenty first century because the socialist insurance policies of Nicolas Maduro and his predecessor and mentor Chavez gutted funding in oilfield expertise and upkeep work.
The nationalization of property lengthy held by the likes of ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil Corp furthered the nation’s isolation, scared off some international traders and accelerated the decline of Venezuela’s oil sector. Any probability of reviving crude manufacturing within the nation’s huge fields hinges on monetary and technical lifelines from overseas.
Generated by readers, the feedback included herein don’t mirror the views and opinions of Rigzone. All feedback are topic to editorial assessment. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting feedback will probably be eliminated.
MORE FROM THIS AUTHOR
Bloomberg