Region: Venezuela

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

A divided ICSID tribunal has ordered Venezuela to pay nearly US$3 billion including interest for expropriating the assets of a Spanish agricultural group, after US sanctions forced a law firm representing the state to withdraw.

25 March 2022

South Korean arbitrator Kap-You (Kevin) Kim has resigned from an ICSID committee hearing Venezuela’s bid to annul a US$9 billion award held by ConocoPhillips after disclosing that he is working alongside the US oil company’s counsel in an unrelated case.

23 March 2022

A dual national backed by a third-party funder has seen his billion-dollar treaty claim against Venezuela thrown out based on his “dominant and effective” nationality.

01 February 2022

Venezuela has successfully appealed the US recognition of an ICSID award worth more than US$42 million in favour of a French plastics company on the basis that the enforcement proceedings were not properly served.

26 January 2022

A US appeals court has said it lacks jurisdiction to intervene in Canadian mining company Crystallex’s efforts to execute a US$1.4 billion ICSID award against Venezuela’s largest foreign asset as the lower court has yet to make a final decision.

19 January 2022

The French Court of Cassation has reinstated a jurisdictional award in favour of two Spanish-Venezuelan nationals in a dispute with Venezuela, finding the underlying treaty didn’t require them to hold Spanish nationality at the time they made their investments.

01 December 2021

An UNCITRAL panel is in place to hear an insurer’s US$700 million investment treaty claim against Venezuela after the state succeeded in disqualifying the claimant’s original pick as arbitrator.

18 November 2021

Venezuela has defeated a US$600 million investment treaty claim brought by US sanitary products group Kimberly-Clark over the seizure of a factory during a national toilet paper shortage – with a tribunal finding the state had not consented to arbitrate under ICSID’s additional facility rules.

09 November 2021

A Dutch appeal court has refused to recognise an ICDR emergency award blocking Curaçao’s state-run refining company from targeting assets owned by Venezuela’s national oil and gas company PDVSA.

07 October 2021