PDVSA Failed to Set Firewalls to Contain $2 Billion Assault

  • ConocoPhillips moved quickly to enforce arbitration award
  • Venezuela oil giant’s oil assets in Caribbean are frozen
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Venezuela’s state-run oil giant failed to erect firewalls that may have kept ConocoPhillips from freezing Bloomberg Terminalits oil assets in the Caribbean.

Beset by political and financial chaos at home, Petroleos de Venezuela SA never took legal precautions common for distressed corporate debtors, including protecting cargoes from seizure. PDVSA also lacks the sovereign immunity of a national government that’s helped others slow-walk collections in the past.