On November 17, OFAC issued General License 8G, Authorizing Transactions Involving Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (“PdVSA”) Necessary for the Limited Maintenance of Essential Operations in Venezuela or the Wind Down of Operations in Venezuela for Certain Entities (“GL 8G.”). GL 8G, like its predecessor General License No. 8F (“GL 8F”), authorizes several  US energy companies to engage … Read more

Bolivia has become the seventh state to ratify the United Nations Convention on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration, also known as the “Mauritius Convention”. State parties to the Mauritius Convention commit to greater transparency in investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) proceedings. Specifically, by ratifying the Mauritius Convention, Bolivia consents to extend the application of the UNCITRAL … Read more

On October 6, OFAC issued General License 5E, Authorizing Certain Transactions Related to the Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. 2020 8.5 Percent Bond on or After January 19, 2021 (“GL-5E”). GL-5E appears intended to protect bondholders of CITGO Holding, Inc. (“Citgo”), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil and natural gas company, Petróleos … Read more

As the United States continues its “maximum pressure” campaign on the Maduro regime in Venezuela, the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) has added 32 additional individuals, entities, and vessels to the Specially Designated Nationals (“SDN”) and Blocked Person List, from June to September 2020. The campaign is designed to cut … Read more

On August 5, 2019, President Trump issued a new Executive Order (“EO”), blocking all property and interests in property of the Government of Venezuela (defined to include the Central Bank of Venezuela and Petróleos de Venezuela (“PdVSA”)) in the US or in the possession of US persons. The EO also empowers the Secretary of Treasury, … Read more

Recently, the Constitutional Chamber of the Venezuelan Supreme Court of Justice (the “Court”) issued an interlocutory judgment ordering the Business Center for Conciliation and Arbitration (CEDCA) to stay an arbitration and to forward the arbitration file in order to decide on a request for “avocamiento” filed by one of the parties before the Court. This … Read more

What E&P Projects will Petrobras Offload by Year-end? (BNamericas) Brazil’s state oil firm Petrobras is due to complete by the end of 2020 the sale of 109 exploration and production areas. The sell-offs are part of the company’s US$20-30bn divestment plan focused on reducing participation in onshore and shallow water projects to focus on deepwater E&P. The deadline was imposed … Read more

On January 24, 2020, the Executive Branch of Peru approved the Emergency Decree No. 020-2020 (“Emergency Decree”), introducing amendments to the rules on international and domestic arbitration contained in Legislative Decree No. 1071 (“Peruvian Arbitration Law”). Interestingly, the modifications provided by the Emergency Decree only concern arbitration proceedings in which the State is involved as a party, apparently as … Read more