U.S. oil firm ConocoPhillips won a Trinidad & Tobago court order granting it the right to enforce a $1.3 billion claim against Venezuela for past expropriations, casting a shadow over a proposed offshore natural gas venture between the two countries.
Conoco has the right to enforce the order by seizing any future compensation Trinidad may make to Venezuela. The two countries are looking to develop a major offshore gas project, call Dragon, that involves Trinidad’s NGC gas company and oil major Shell.
The court order provides Venezuela state oil company PDVSA seven 7 days to challenge decision favoring Conoco, according to court documents.
(Reporting by Curtis Williams and Marianna Parraga)