Conocophillips Petrozuata BV; Conocophillips Hamaca BV; Conocophillips Gulf of Paria BV; Conocophillips Co v Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela - Petroleos de Venezuela SA - United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Nos 24-1071 - 24-1096 - OPINION - 5 December 2024
Country
Year
2024
Summary
On Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Delaware (D.C. No. 1-22-mc-00464)
This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent.
In 2019, an arbitral panel of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ("ICSID") determined that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela owed ConocoPhillips 1 over $8.5 billion plus interest for expropriating ConocoPhillips' interests in several oil projects. Since then, Venezuela has refused to pay. As a result, ConocoPhillips filed a motion for a writ of attachment in the District Court to attach U.S.- based assets owned by Venezuela's state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. ("PDVSA"). PDVSA intervened and moved to dismiss the action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction on the ground of sovereign immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 ("FSIA"). The District Court denied PDVSA's motion and granted the motion for a writ of attachment. We will affirm the District Court's order and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
