"Four years ago, the administration of President Hugo Chavez kicked off a plan to increase the State clout in the economy through seizures and nationalizations in a wide range of areas, such as oil, telecommunications, electric power supply, cement makers, the iron and steel industry, coffee factories, banks and farms.
Thus far, the government has repaid only a tiny portion of the procurement. This is the case of Banco de Venezuela to Grupo Santander and La Electricidad de Caracas to AES Corporation.
A case study prepared by think-tank Ecoanalitica took into account the State procurement ending 2009, except for additional amounts for purchase of small assets and expropriated farms. It found that the amount payable for the companies, most of which were in multinational hands, totals $22 billion. This sum amounting to 84% of Venezuela's international reserves includes the purchase in 2010 of the French-Colombian retail chain Hipermercados Éxito and Industrial Estate I of Barquisimeto, the capital city of Lara state."
http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=91593The following article from Investment Treaty News provides a good overview:
American gas services firm Exterran files for arbitration against Venezuela over nationalized assets
According to an Exterran press release, in February 2009 the Venezuelan National Guard occupied SIMCO facilities and handed them over to Venezuelan state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA). In May of 2009 PIGAP II and El Furrial were also taken over after each had sent a notice of default to their sole customer PDVSA the previous month due to its lack of payments for their services.
In June 2009 Petrosucre, a subsidiary of PDVSA, took over Exterran’s gas compressors and electrical generators in Venezuela, terminating most of the company’s investment in the country.
These takeovers are part of a new wave of Venezuelan nationalizations that target companies that provide services for oil and gas extraction in order to cut costs for PDVSA. PDVSA claims that Exterran was charging excessive fees that were causing losses for Venezuela, according to AP reports.
Last month ITN reported that New Orleans-based Tidewater Inc launched another arbitration against Venezuela for the expropriation of its operations including vessels that provided transportation services for petroleum companies including PDVSA.
http://www.investmenttreatynews.org/cms/news/archive/2010/05/11/american-gas-services-firm-exterran-files-for-arbitration-against-venezuela-over-nationalized-assets.aspxEl Universal reports the cost of nationalizations is up to $22 Billion
Four years ago, the administration of President Hugo Chávez kicked off a plan to increase the State clout in the economy through seizures and nationalizations in a wide range of areas, such as oil, telecommunications, electric power supply, cement makers, the iron and steel industry, coffee factories, banks and farms.
Thus far, the government has repaid only a tiny portion of the procurement. This is the case of Banco de Venezuela to Grupo Santander and La Electricidad de Caracas to AES Corporation.
A case study prepared by think-tank Ecoanalítica took into account the State procurement ending 2009, except for additional amounts for purchase of small assets and expropriated farms. It found that the amount payable for the companies, most of which were in multinational hands, totals USD 22 billion.
http://english.eluniversal.com/2010/05/07/en_ing_esp_cost-of-seizures-up_07A3867709.shtml-----------------------------------------
My comment:
Many of the claims against Venezuela for failure to pay for nationalized assets are in ICSID or other arbitratioon venues. These cases take time, and they are confidential. However, the parties nationalized by the Venezuelan government have very strong cases. Once the awards begin to roll in, there will be a move to seize PDVSA assets all over the world. Which makes the policy they have to own refineries and other assets abroad a very dumb move. I'm sure ExxonMobil will own CITGO in a few years, and the others will divide the spoils like a pack of wolves.