An international arbitration court has rejected Venezuela's appeal of an $8.5bn award given to ConocoPhillips related to Venezuela's expropriation of its crude assets in 2007.
The World Bank's International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (Icsid) dismissed Venezuela's appeal, which was based on multiple arguments over the costs awarded.
Icsid also ordered Venezuela to pay $6.46mn in ConocoPhillip's legal fees and $1.35mn in other court costs for the proceedings.
"The decision upholds the principle that governments cannot unlawfully expropriate private investments without paying compensation," ConocoPhillips said of the ruling.
Venezuela's latest appeal with Icsid came after a US federal court in 2022 cleared ConocoPhillips to try to collect the $8.5bn award, which has an annually compounded interest rate of 5.5pc.
Venezuela's government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
ConocoPhillips first filed the case with Icsid after Caracas expropriated its Petrozuata and Hamaca crude upgrading assets and its offshore Corocor light to medium-grade crude production project as part of deceased former-president Hugo Chavez's nationalistic energy drive.
But collection will still be difficult given that there are multiple claims in international courts totaling more than $60bn against Venezuela, which has dwindling international assets in the face of sanctions against the government of President Nicolas Maduro.
A process to sell US refiner Citgo, Venezuela's main foreign oil asset, to satisfy some of these creditors has faced multiple delays.