Rex Tillerson, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. Secretary of State, took on Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez in his bid to seize Exxon property.
Chavez, a famous thorn in the side of the U.S., nationalized foreign oil assets in 2007 amidst a decline in oil production. The move came after Venezuela’s national oil company hired foreign oil contractors, like Exxon Mobil, to help it extract oil from its aging infrastructure. Tillerson immediately took Venezuela to the World Arbitration Court, seeking $16.6 billion dollars in owed compensation.
Exxon won nearly $1.6 billion in asset rewards in 2014, and immediately began drilling off the coast of Venezuela in Guyanese waters for oil. Venezuela’s government claims the waters as its own, and is deeply upset at Exxon’s significant discovery in previously unexplored waters.
Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro was reportedly so incensed by Exxon’s discovery that he issued a May, 2015, decree laying claim to the Guyanese waters in question. “I ask for the help of the whole country, all social and political sectors, civil and military, to defend our territory, defend our fatherland,” Maduro said in the country-wide announcement.
Exxon hailed the 2014 decision, saying that it “confirms that the Venezuela government failed to provide fair compensation for expropriated assets.”
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