Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) has been awarded about $907.6 million by an arbitration panel as compensation for its assets nationalized by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2007.
Reports cited an email by an Exxon spokesman stating that the International Chamber of Commerce, or ICC, has ordered Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, to pay the compensation.
"The ICC decision confirms that PDVSA does have a contractual liability to Exxon Mobil. The dispute is not over Venezuela's power to expropriate assets, but rather the failure of PDVSA to comply with contractual provisions to compensate Exxon Mobil," the spokesman has reportedly said.
Chavez in 2007 took control of various projects controlled by foreign companies in the energy, metals, cement and telecommunications industries. The nationalizations reportedly involved more than $33.7 billion in assets.
The award is around 10th of what Exxon is seeking for nationalizing an oil project in the oil rich Orinoco oil belt in the country in 2007. Exxon in October 2010 had cut the amount it was seeking from PDVSA to $7 billion from $12 billion.
A separate case between Exxon and Venezuela is pending before the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, or ICSID. Chavez faces about 20 arbitration cases at the ICSID regarding the nationalization of assets.
Mexican cement company Cemex S.A.B. de C.V. (CX) in December had received a payment of $600 million from Venezuelan government as compensation for the nationalization of its operations in the country.
XOM closed Friday's regular trading session at $84.76, down $0.51 or 0.60 percent.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.