Which arbitration awards have been issued against Venezuela over oil expropriations and how much remains unpaid?
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Executive summary
Two major international arbitration awards tied directly to Venezuela’s oil expropriations stand out: an ICSID award of roughly $8.7 billion to ConocoPhillips upheld after Venezuela’s annulment attempt failed in January 2025, and a $1.6 billion award to ExxonMobil from 2014 that remained in dispute as of late 2025; Conoco’s parallel ICC award of about $2 billion was settled in 2018 [1] [2] [3] [4]. Estimates of total unpaid awards vary and depend on whether interest, legal costs and settlements already paid are included, and public reporting shows Conoco’s large ICSID award remained unpaid as of early 2025 while other cases have mixed outcomes [2] [5] [4].
1. ConocoPhillips: the largest, crystalized award and what was resolved
ConocoPhillips secured multiple arbitral victories: the ICSID tribunal ordered Venezuela to pay about $8.7 billion for the 2007 expropriation of its Petrozuata, Hamaca and Corocoro assets, a decision that was originally issued in 2019 and whose annulment was rejected in January 2025, effectively clearing the way for enforcement [1] [2] [5]. Separately, an ICC tribunal awarded Conoco roughly $2 billion in 2018 over PDVSA’s contractual failures linked to those expropriations, and Conoco later announced a settlement with PDVSA in August 2018 to recover approximately that $2 billion plus interest, indicating that the ICC award was resolved by agreement while the ICSID award remained the larger outstanding judgment [1] [3].
2. ExxonMobil and other corporate awards: baked-in variability
An international arbitration panel ordered Venezuela to pay ExxonMobil about $1.6 billion in 2014 for expropriated assets, a ruling that reporting shows was still part of ongoing disputes and enforcement efforts as of 2025 rather than fully satisfied [6] [4]. Beyond Exxon and Conoco, media summaries and legal roundups note a mix of negotiated settlements (for example with some European majors) and other claimants — mining and energy firms such as Crystallex and Gold Reserve figure in Venezuela’s broader arbitration history — but the sources supplied do not provide a comprehensive, line‑by‑line registry of every award and payment status [7].
3. How much remains unpaid: what reporting supports and what it does not
Public reporting converges on the core fact that Conoco’s multibillion ICSID award remained unpaid after Venezuela’s annulment bid failed in January 2025, and that Exxon’s $1.6 billion award from 2014 was also unresolved as of late 2025, but precise cumulative unpaid totals are estimates rather than settled figures in the sources provided [2] [5] [4]. Some outlets and commentators have aggregated unpaid judgments into headline numbers — for example conservative commentary and some roundups have suggested outstanding liabilities in the teens of billions or above $20 billion when including interest and related awards — but those totals mix settled awards, negotiated settlements (Conoco’s ICC recovery), interest escalations and non‑oil claims and are not fully corroborated by the primary arbitration documents cited here [7].
4. Enforcement, geopolitics and competing narratives
The legal reality — awards against a sovereign that lacks liquid foreign assets in friendly jurisdictions — collides with geopolitical action: recent U.S. political rhetoric and measures targeting Venezuelan oil and tankers frame these unpaid awards as part of an argument for pressure or seizure, even as international law separates compensation for expropriation from claims to sovereign ownership of oil fields themselves; critics warn that converting unpaid civil awards into military‑backed economic coercion extends beyond ordinary enforcement mechanisms [8] [7]. Reporting notes that while Conoco’s ICSID award is final and enforceable in jurisdictions that permit attachment of Venezuelan assets, the sources here do not document full collections of those awards — only the awards, annulment outcomes and some settlements [2] [5] [3].
5. Bottom line and limits of available reporting
Concrete, source‑backed answers are: ConocoPhillips holds an ICSID award of about $8.7 billion (upheld in January 2025) that, per reporting, remained unpaid; Conoco’s separate ICC award of about $2 billion was recovered via a 2018 settlement; ExxonMobil has an approximately $1.6 billion award from 2014 that was still in dispute/enforcement as of 2025 [1] [2] [3] [6] [4]. Precise total unpaid sums beyond those well‑documented awards are not fully enumerated in the supplied sources and published aggregates diverge depending on whether interest, legal costs, non‑oil awards and negotiated settlements are included [7] [4].