Conoco seized PDVSA oil products on the island of Curaçao


05/14/2018

The American oil company ConocoPhillips withdrew petroleum products belonging to the Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) from the Isla oil refinery on the island of Curaçao. This is reported by Reuters.



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The court allowed Conoco to confiscate PDVSA assets in the Caribbean islands, including Curaçao, as part of enforcement of the international arbitration, which obliged PDVSA to pay the American company more than $ 2 billion for nationalization of its assets in Venezuela in 2007.

"PDVSA oil products from Isla plant facilities were confiscated, we have no way to get them," the Minister of Economic Development of Curaçao Steven Martina said, without specifying quantity or value of seized products.

Authorities of Curacao are planning to meet with representatives of PDVSA and Conoco this week to discuss the dispute between the companies, Martina added.

On Friday, Reuters reported, citing two informed sources, that PDVSA is preparing to close the refinery to Curacao, where crude oil stocks are ending, amid threats from Conoco.

However, Martina said that the Isla refinery with a capacity of 335,000 barrels per day is still operating, albeit at a low intensity, thanks to the reserves of Curacao.

The goal of Conoco was the PDVSA facilities on the islands of Curacao, Bonaire and Sint Eustatius in the Caribbean. They are playing a key role in the processing, storage and mixing of PDVSA oil for export. The share of these facilities in the past year accounted for about a quarter of Venezuela's oil exports, said Reuters.

The actions of the American company can further exacerbate the situation of Venezuela, which is going through an economic crisis. The country is almost completely dependent on oil export revenues.

Conoco appealed to the International Chamber of Commerce, demanding that PDVSA pay $ 22 billion for broken contracts and loss of future profits from two joint oil companies that were nationalized in 2007 under the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. The American company left the country without agreeing to transform its projects into joint ventures controlled by the PDVSA.

In late April, the International Chamber of Commerce ordered the Venezuelan company to pay Conoco $ 2.4 billion for the nationalization of assets.

In 2013, the World Bank's International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes also recognized that the Conoco assets were nationalized by Venezuela illegally. Then the American company was awarded a payment of $ 1.6 billion.

source: reuters.com