ConocoPhillips Wins Fight Over PDVSA Assets In $8.5 Billion Case

ConocoPhillips Co. can go after US-based assets owned by Venezuela’s state-owned oil company to satisfy an $8.5 billion judgment that Venezuela hasn’t paid, the Third Circuit ruled Thursday.

Because ConocoPhillips can in good faith assert that Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. is the “alter ego” of Venezuela, the trial court properly granted the company’s motion to attach PDVSA assets to the judgment, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit said.

The US District Court for the District of Delaware granted ConocoPhillips’ writ of attachment last year, denying PDVSA’s motion to block it. The move came two years after ...