American energy giant ConocoPhillips said Monday in a statement that it signed a $2 billion settlement agreement with the Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA.
The amount awarded to ConocoPhillips by an arbitral tribunal, constituted under the rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), according to the statement.
PDVSA will make initial payments that total around $500 million within a period of 90 days, the statement said. The balance of the settlement will be paid every three month over a period of four and a half years, it added.
"The award relates to the unlawful expropriation of ConocoPhillips’ investments in the Hamaca and Petrozuata heavy crude oil projects in Venezuela in 2007 and other pre-expropriation fiscal measures," the company said.
The ICC ruled in favor of ConocoPhillips in April, but the company failed to receive payments from PDVSA. The next month, ConocoPhillips seized PDVSA's some assets in the Caribbean. In 2007, Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez had expropriated two of ConocoPhillips' joint ventures in the country.
