Overview
Steptoe’s latest success for ExxonMobil in its long-running battle with the Venezuelan government over assets expropriated in 2007 was covered by Global Arbitration Review in a February 19 article titled “Venezuela Fails to Undo Recognition of Exxon Award.” The article discusses a ruling from a New York federal court that blocked Venezuela’s attempt to reverse the ex parte recognition of a $1.6 billion arbitral award in favor of ExxonMobil.
The US District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed the state’s petition to vacate judgment from last year that had recognized the award in an ex parte (or summary) proceeding. In October 2014, ExxonMobil obtained the award from an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal, the World Bank’s international arbitration court. The day after the ICSID award, Steptoe, on behalf of ExxonMobil, converted the multi-billion dollar award into a federal court judgment in an ex parte proceeding in the Southern District of New York. Venezuela then applied to vacate the judgment on the ground that the ex parte procedure was improper. In a 50-page opinion, the court denied the motion and adopted every critical argument advanced by Steptoe.
Since 2007, Steptoe has acted for ExxonMobil in this matter – and others – to enforce the arbitral awards ExxonMobil receives in its cases. This case involved the expropriation of two oil projects in Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt. Previously, Steptoe has succeeded in freezing $300 million of state-owned assets in 2007 and recognizing a prior arbitral award in ExxonMobil’s favor against PDVSA, Venezuela’s state-owned oil company. That case was the subject of a chapter in Steve Coll’s best-selling book Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power.
Steptoe partners Steve Davidson and Michael Baratz lead the firm’s efforts on this matter, with support from Evan Glassman, Jeff Theodore, Jared Butcher, Molly Bruder Fox, and Danny Johnson.
The full article on the February 13 decision can be read at Global Arbitration Review.
