US oil giant loses Venezuela case
The ruling came after ExxonMobil won a court order against PDVSA as part of an international arbitration to win compensation for assets seized during the nationalisation of Venezuelan oil fields.
"I have today held that the injunction granted on 24 January 2008 against the defendant [PDVSA] should be discharged," Judge Walker said in a statement on Tuesday.
A London judge has suspended a court order that froze $12bn of Venezuelan assets awarded to US oil giant ExxonMobil in a dispute over oil interests.
Judge Paul Walker said ExxonMobil had "no good arguable case" that Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), Venezuela's state oil company, had acted unjustifiably in taking control of two of its operations.
The funds were originally frozen so that ExxonMobil could be compensated should it win arbitration.
"In the absence of any exceptional feature such as fraud, and in the absence of substantial assets of PDVSA located here, the fact that the seat of arbitration is not here makes it inappropriate to grant an order," he said.
'No fraud'
Judge Walker said there was no evidence that there was any international fraud involved, which would normally allow a worldwide asset freezing order to be imposed.
Exxon was ordered to make an interim payment of $765,300 to cover legal costs within 21 days.
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http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/BF6E6BAB-16E5-4AA9-8625-E9EB63FB596F.htm
Gordon Pollock, a lawyer for PDVSA, said the ruling was "comprehensive" and "ground-breaking".
"This will be an important decision for future, a precedent," he said.
Samuel Moncada, ambassador for Venezuela, said the judgment was a victory for Venezuela.
"This was a defeat of the tactics of judicial terrorism used by ExxonMobil," he said.
"This is the beginning of the end of the harassment campaign Exxon instigated against Venezuela. We are planning to fight all of the way," he told reporters at the High Court in London.
International orders
Exxon declined to comment on whether it would appeal the ruling, but said it had no impact on the company's claim for compensation for the assets taken during the nationalisation process.
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http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/BF6E6BAB-16E5-4AA9-8625-E9EB63FB596F.htm
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