Region: Venezuela

Two bottlemaking companies that saw their billion-dollar ICSID claim against Venezuela thrown out four years ago have refiled the case – as the state fails to annul a coffee investor’s US$42 million award in a separate dispute.

28 July 2022

Venezuela must arbitrate a €425 million dispute with the owners and insurer of a cruise ship over a bizarre maritime showdown that resulted in the sinking of a navy patrol boat, a London court has ruled, while refusing to block the state from pursuing foreign parallel litigation.

29 June 2022

Following arbitrator Kevin Kim’s resignation from an ICSID annulment committee hearing Venezuela’s bid to overturn a US$9 billion award in favour of ConocoPhillips, the state has challenged two more panel members on the basis that they were “corrupted” by his actions.

21 June 2022

Venezuela has failed to overturn an award upholding jurisdiction over a US$185 million investment arbitration brought by US-based cleaning products group Clorox, with a Swiss court dismissing arguments that the claim – on remand to the tribunal – was an example of abusive treaty shopping.

17 June 2022

The Paris Court of Appeal has at the second time of asking upheld a Canadian gold mining company’s US$1.7 billion investment treaty award against Venezuela, ruling a limitation period for bringing claims did not curtail the tribunal’s jurisdiction.

10 June 2022

The UK owner of election technology group Smartmatic has brought a US$1.5 billion investment treaty claim against Venezuela, accusing it of a campaign of harassment following an allegedly fraudulent election.

06 June 2022

An ICSID committee has upheld an award requiring Venezuela to pay more than US$444 million to subsidiaries of US chemicals group Koch Industries for the expropriation of a fertiliser business.

26 May 2022

A US appeals court has refused to order Occidental Petroleum to pay a group of its former employees a share of a billion-dollar ICSID award it won against Ecuador over a terminated oil block contract.

09 May 2022

An Italian construction consortium is pursuing a US$2 billion ICC claim against Venezuela over three rail projects, it has emerged – as a US sanitary products group refiles an investment treaty claim against the state.

11 April 2022

An ICC tribunal has said it lacks jurisdiction to hear a US$100 million claim brought against Venezuela under a framework agreement for economic cooperation with Italy, finding the treaty contains only “vague” mention of investment protection.

31 March 2022