Exxon gets low compensation from Venezuela
AN arbitration panel has awarded US oil giant Exxon Mobil $908m (£586m) in compensation for Venezuela’s 2007 nationalisation of its assets, less than 10 per cent of what the firm sought in its legal battle with the Opec nation.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez likely will celebrate the ruling as a vindication of his confrontation with oil companies aimed at lifting revenue from the industry to boost funding for state-led anti-poverty programmes.
But Venezuela faces arbitration with Exxon over the nationalisation of the Cerro Negro project, and more than a dozen pending claims from companies like oil major ConocoPhillips.