Venezuela praises decision in ExxonMobil case

[Judi Lynn]

Source: News wires

Venezuela praises decision in ExxonMobil case
Venezuela today praised the latest decision by an arbitration panel in a case over the 2007 expropriation of ExxonMobil assets by the government of President Hugo Chavez.

News wires 11 June 2010 19:37 GMT

Rafael Ramirez, Venezuela's energy minister and the president of state oil company PDVSA, said a decision released yesterday night should force ExxonMobil to "drastically reduce" the $10 billion it has been seeking. He told reporters the decision by the three-member arbitration panel in Washington indicates the panel will listen only to claims from ExxonMobil over higher royalties and taxes that were imposed after February 2006, Dow Jones reported.

That, Ramirez said, is because the decision basically says ExxonMobil can seek damages only for issues after the US company created a Dutch holding company in February 2006, a move he claims was done specifically to allow ExxonMobil to possibly bring arbitration against Venezuela.

ExxonMobil filed an arbitration request in 2007 with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, a World Bank-aligned entity, in Washington.

Ramirez also said the statement should have an "important" effect on reducing how much other companies can seek from Venezuela over nationalisations. ConocoPhillips is also trying to get Venezuela to pay it for assets seized in 2007 from its heavy oil project.

Read more: http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article217646.ece

[dipsydoodle]

1. What's interesting

is that ExxonMobil needed to create a Dutch holding company ispecifically to allow ExxonMobil to possibly bring arbitration against Venezuela. They then filed an arbitration request in 2007 with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, a World Bank-aligned entity, in Washington.
It follows that, for whatever reason, they couldn't do it as a US Company ? Something odd about that.

[Judi Lynn]

2. It's really, really odd. If they had to go through such contortions, they are cheating.

Hope they lose at least part of their corporate ass.

http://images-eu.amazon.com.nyud.net:8090/images/P/1567511589.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg

[dipsydoodle]

3. There's got to be a legality

involved somewhere regarding what the USA itself does and does not recognise.

[Warren Stupidity]

4. My heart goes out to poor ExxonMobile.

Their refusal to negotiate in good faith over the re-nationalization of their holdings in Venezuela's oil resource industry and their attempts to evade Venezuelan jurisdiction by reorganizing their holdings as a Dutch entity appear to have not gone quite as they imagined.

[harun]

11. Yah they probably won't be able to afford paying any U.S. Federal

Income Tax now. Oh wait... they don't pay any U.S. Federal Income Taxes.

[defendandprotect]

5. Would be a good idea for US . . .let's "appropriate" our own oil ... nationalize the industry!!

[dipsydoodle]

6. You might need to do that anyway

to prevent Petrochina from buying it.

btw to nationalise BP you'd need to buy it too.

[cstanleytech]

7. Even if they wanted to they couldnt nationalize all of BP since its

not even a US company, the most they could do in the US would be to nationalize its US assets assuming they tried to do something like that.

[defendandprotect]

8. How about receivership . . . vs seizing their assets -- ???

They were originally part of the 7 sisters, if I recall correctly --

In 1960, the Democratic Platform which JFK ran on called for nationalizing the oil industry.

[fascisthunter]

10. since it is a "national Security Issue" it should be nationalized

[PufPuf23]

9. The USA should nationalize our oil like other progressive

governments beginning with Iran in 1951 followed by the coup in 1953 where Democracy was replaced by the Shah and protected the golden goose of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now BP).

The citizens of the USA are being ripped off by cronyism to multi-national oil companies and receivfing royalties like a third world oligarch nation with outside supported leadership.

I read here at DU but cannot verify that BP supplies 80% of DoD fuel.