PDVSA Pays Exxon $252m Compensation

PDVSA has paid ExxonMobil $251.9m as compensation for the assets the global oil major lost to a nationalization campaign in 2007. The payment comes after making some adjustments to the $907.6m figure that the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) awarded Exxon in its early January ruling, PDVSA says. As agreed, following the ruling, PDVSA planned to discount the amount Exxon owed for the outstanding debt of the nationalized Cerro Negro project in which PDVSA and Exxon worked as partners, an additional $300m that Exxon managed to freeze from PDVSA in a New York account and additional money the tribunal credited to PDVSA’s obligations to Exxon. The ICC ruling fell below the $7bn-$10bn that Exxon originally sought as compensation for its nationalized assets. Despite the payment, however, Exxon has a pending case against Venezuela at ICSID, the arbitration unit of the World Bank. PDVSA has long insisted it would pay only the book value of those assets and not the fair market value that the aggrieved oil companies sought to receive.