Overview
(October 1, 2025, Washington, DC) — Over the last 15 years, Steptoe successfully enforced ICC and ICSID awards (and obtained pre-judgment attachment) in favor of five subsidiaries of ExxonMobil against the Government of Venezuela and its subsidiaries after Venezuela expropriated ExxonMobil’s assets in 2007. See Coll, Steve. Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power. New York, Penguin Press, 2012. The first award settled in 2020, resulting in payment of over $1B to ExxonMobil.
Most recently, ExxonMobil, represented by Steptoe, was successful in having another ICSID award recognized in the federal district court for the District of Columbia as against Venezuela. On September 29, Judge Lamberth entered judgment in favor of certain ExxonMobil affiliates in the amount of $985,527,000, plus interest and legal fees.
Following partial annulment and a second ICSID award issued in July 2023, Steptoe initiated this enforcement action in DC. Venezuela was served but did not appear, and Steptoe obtained a default. Many months later, Venezuela finally appeared. The parties then briefed both a motion for a default judgment and a motion for summary judgment; in each case, Venezuela's only defense was that the ICSID tribunal lacked jurisdiction to determine which set of lawyers (those appointed by the Maduro regime, or those appointed by the US-recognized Guaidó regime) could represent Venezuela in the arbitration. Judge Lamberth resolved the dispute by deciding to reach the merits of the case. He granted ExxonMobil’s motion for summary judgment, denied Venezuela's cross-motion for summary judgment (and denied ExxonMobil’s motion for a default judgment) and entered a final judgment in favor of the ExxonMobil affiliates.
Steven Davidson, Michael Baratz, Molly Bruder Fox, Emma Marshak, Catherine Matous, and Riley John represent ExxonMobil.
For more information visit Law360 and Global Arbitration Review (Subscription Required).
About Steptoe
In more than 110 years of practice, Steptoe has earned an international reputation for vigorous representation of clients before governmental agencies, successful advocacy in litigation and arbitration, and creative and practical advice in structuring business transactions. Steptoe has more than 500 lawyers and other professional staff across offices in Beijing, Brussels, Chicago, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. For more information, visit www.steptoe.com.
