ConocoPhillips Aims To Seize PDVSA Oil Inventories In Curacao

ConocoPhillips is trying to seize PDVSA’s oil assets at the 335,000 barrel-per-day (bbl/d) Isla refinery in Curacao, which would expand its control over the Venezuelan state-run company’s barrels for export, according to sources close to the matter.

Under court orders to enforce a $2 billion arbitration award by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the U.S. oil firm last week temporarily seized about 4 million barrels of crude that PDVSA had stored on the Dutch Caribbean island of St. Eustatius and took control of a terminal on Bonaire, prompting PDVSA to move several oil tankers away from the region.