WILLEMSTAD, KRALENDIJK – The Joint Court of Justice has ruled that it has not been proven that the oil seized at Bonaire Petroleum Corporation (Bopec) and at Refineria Isla Curaçao is the property of the Venezuelan state. As a result, creditor Huntington Ingalls cannot recover its claim from this oil.
With this ruling, issued after the case was referred back by the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, the Joint Court confirms earlier decisions by the courts of first instance.
Long-Running Legal Dispute
Huntington Ingalls has for years sought to enforce payment of an arbitration award of more than 100 million US dollars owed by Venezuela. In an effort to collect the debt, the company placed attachments on oil stored in Bonaire and Curaçao, assuming the oil belonged to the Venezuelan state.
Bopec and Refineria Isla Curaçao, however, stated that they were not holding oil owned by Venezuela, prompting Huntington to initiate legal proceedings challenging those claims.
Ownership Not Established
The Joint Court found that while it is established that the oil originated in Venezuela and was intended for delivery to China, this alone is insufficient to conclude that the Venezuelan state remained the owner of the oil at the time the attachments were imposed.
According to the Court, it is common practice for oil ownership to transfer after extraction to other entities, such as Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) or its subsidiaries.
No Legal Identification With the State
The Court also rejected Huntington’s argument that PDVSA and its subsidiaries should be legally identified with the Venezuelan state. The judges ruled that under Venezuelan law, there is no basis to disregard the legal distinction between the state and these companies. The fact that they belong to the same economic group does not justify treating them as a single legal entity.
Implications for Other Creditors
The ruling effectively ends Huntington Ingalls’ attempts to enforce its claim by attaching oil stored in the Caribbean. The decisions are considered significant for other creditors seeking to recover debts by targeting Venezuelan state assets outside Venezuela, as they clarify the high evidentiary threshold required to establish state ownership.
The judgment reinforces legal certainty for storage facilities and operators in Curaçao and Bonaire, confirming that the presence of Venezuelan-origin oil alone does not automatically make it subject to claims against the Venezuelan state.