On October 9, 2014, an arbitral tribunal composed of Gabrielle Kaufmann-Kohler, Ahmed El-Kosheri, and Gilbert Guillaume (President) issued an award in ICSID Case No. ARB/07/27, Mobil Corporation, Venezuela Holdings, B.V., Mobil Cerro Negro Holding, Ltd., Mobil Venezolana de Petróleos Holdings, Inc., Mobil Cerro Negro, Ltd., and Mobil Venezolana de Petróleos, Inc. v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The Tribunal awarded the Claimants total damages and costs of US$ 1,600,042,482, arising from Venezuela’s breach of the Agreement on Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of Investments Between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Republic of Venezuela (“the Treaty”).

 

 

The dispute arose from Mobil Corporation’s investment in two oil production and exploration projects in Venezuela. In 1975, Venezuela nationalized the oil industry and foreclosed foreign investment by passing the “Organic Law that Reserves to the State the Industry and Trade of Hydrocarbons” (hereinafter “the 1975 Nationalization Law”).