Exxon fight isn't over in Venezuela

Though a Venezuelan oil producer was ordered by an international panel to pay 11 percent of claims from Exxon Mobil, the fight isn't over, an analyst said. The International Chamber of Commerce, which has headquarters in Paris, ordered state-controlled oil producer Petroleos de Venezuela to pay Exxon about $747 million for the 2007 seizure of oil wells in the country. The Venezuelan government in 2007 ordered international oil companies to transform their production agreements into ones that put them as minority shareholders with PDVSA in the country's oil-rich Orinoco Belt. The award from the International Chamber of Commerce, however, represents just 11 percent of the $7 billion that Exxon wanted from the oil company. Exxon was one of the companies that refused the terms and Lysle Brinker, a director of energy markets at IHS Inc. told Bloomberg News the fight wasn't over. "Initially, this (award) looks like a pretty low number because it does not fully reflect the value of the assets Exxon lost," said Brinker. "But this is not over yet." Exxon acquired the assets in question from Mobil in 1999. Arguments are expected between Exxon and the Venezuelan government before the World Bank next month.