CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela said yesterday a preliminary court ruling signaled Exxon Mobil Corp will not win its full compensation claim of $10 billion after President Hugo Chavez nationalized its oil projects in 2007.
Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said the decision by the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement on Investment Disputes set a shorter time period for compensation than the U.S. oil giant had requested.
“Venezuela sees this ruling as favorable, although we are conscious that this is not the end of the judicial process,” Ramirez told a news conference.
An Exxon Mobil spokesman said it remained willing to talk directly with the government about compensation, while continuing arbitration proceedings. The company’s stock fell 0.05 percent to $61.86 yesterday.
Chavez’s socialist government took control of the country’s most lucrative oil fields from foreign companies in a push for state-run industry in 2007 that also took in telecommunications and power firms, farms and parts of the finance sector.