ConocoPhillips wins approval from a judge for the seizure of payments made to Venezuelan PDVSA

ConocoPhillips won approval from a Trinidad court on Friday to seize payments made by the Caribbean nation to Venezuela's oil company in connection with a proposed offshore project between the two countries.

ConocoPhillips is trying to recover money for many years from Petroleos de Venezuela for the expropriation of its assets. PDVSA paid Conoco $700 million as part of a settlement deal, but stopped payments at the end of 2019.

Conoco, since then, has tried to enforce arbitral rulings against Venezuelan and PDVSA. This includes a $1.33-billion claim against PDVSA at Trinidad's High Court.

Judge Frank Seepersad stated that his decision to appoint an receiver was made because there is a high risk that PDVSA would move assets out of Trinidad's jurisdiction in order to avoid paying ConocoPhillips. He also cited PDVSA's relocation of its European Headquarters to Moscow.

Conoco's attorneys told the court that they had identified specific PDVSA assets to target. Judge Seepersad stated that the order was against PDVSA, its companies and not Venezuela as a whole which ConocoPhillips was not targeting.

ConocoPhillips refused to comment. PDVSA was not available to comment immediately, nor was Trinidad's National Gas Company (a state-owned company that is part of the Trinidad-Venezuela Gas Project).

Court documents revealed that the court-approved receiver would control any compensation paid to PDVSA in exchange for giving up a joint Dragon Gas Field Project and any infrastructure owned by it.

PDVSA can appeal the latest Trinidad court decision within seven days of being served. Reporting by Curtis Williams, Houston; editing by Kirtis Donovan

(source: Reuters)