Exxon accept around 908 Million from Venezuela

"They must be elated that they got off so cheap. It's certainly a happy new year for Venezuela," said Russ Dallen, head bond trader at investment bank Caracas Capital Markets.
"But what gives Exxon hope is that it's only the first of two arbitration proceedings."
An Exxon spokesman said in an e-mail on Sunday that the International Chamber of Commerce, or ICC, had ruled that Venezuela's state oil company, PDVSA, "does have a contractual liability to Exxon Mobil. The ICC award is for $907,588,000."
(Exxon wins less than expected from Venezuela dispute)

Exxon Mobil said the International Chamber Of Commerce had determined that the state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA "does have a contractual liability to Exxon Mobil.”
The company said the award is for $907,588,000.
Exxon Mobil has not publicly revealed how much it was seeking in compensation from Venezuela for the 2007 nationalization of a crude oil project in Venezuela’s Orinoco belt.
The Reuters news agency said Exxon Mobil had sought as much as $10 billion, and Venezuela had earlier offered $1 billion.
(Exxon Mobil Awarded $908 Million)

Exxon has said that it invested around $750 million into the Cerro Negro facility. The company reduced its claim to $7 billion from an initial claim of $12 billion.
Despite the smaller-than-expected compensation for Exxon, the money is still a substantial chunk of change for PdVSA, which posted a net profit of $4 billion during the first six months of 2011. The Venezuelan oil monopoly has faced declining oil production and cash flow problems in recent years as Chavez diverts large portions of revenue toward social projects, which critics say has resulted in insufficient investments into maintenance.
Earlier this year, Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said his government planned to pay no more than a total of $2.5 billion between its arbitration cases with Exxon and ConocoPhillips. Fellow oil major Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil company, decided to accept PdVSA's majority stake and remained in Venezuela.
(Venezuela Seen Getting Off 'Lightly' In $908 Million Exxon Payment)

“Exxon took a risk when they went in. I’m sure they were expecting more than just making their money back,” Dallen said, adding that it will be hard to reach a definitive conclusion about what the decision means until more details are released.
The Exxon spokesman told ­Reuters that the company was still reviewing the more-than-400-page ruling.
In 2007, Venezuela bought back $630 million in bonds issued to finance the Cerro Negro project, which Dallen said may have figured into the calculation of the award.
Local analyst Asdrubal Oliveros of Ecoanalitica estimated the value of Exxon assets in Venezuela at $4.5 billion.
Conoco Phillips was an investor in two of the four Orinoco upgrader projects. Exxon and Conoco, which had in total asked for as much as $40 billion in compensation, both left the country after the nationalizations.
(Exxon awarded $908 million to compensate for Venezuelan nationalization)