A federal judge in Houston ordered a former Venezuelan oil minister this week to pay the owners of a defunct Houston oil company $1.4 billion in damages in a fraud suit, although it is unclear if or how the payment will ever be made.
U.S. District Court Judge Lee Rosenthal issued the default judgment on Feb. 13 after Rafael Ramirez did not contest Harvest Natural Resources Inc.'s claims, according to an opinion accompanying the ruling.
James Edmiston, Harvest Natural's former CEO and director, said Feb. 14 he was pleased with the order. Whether the shareholders of Harvest will ever receive payment from Ramirez "is the $1.4 billion question," he said.
Ramirez, in a message to Reuters, said he was not surprised by the order, but declined further comment.
Harvest's suit claimed Venezuela refused to allow the company to sell its assets in the country from 2012, leading it to lose $472 million. It accused Ramirez and others of seeking a $10 million bribe to approve the transaction.
Rosenthal initially awarded Harvest $472 million in damages in December, an amount he tripled this week.
Ramirez was appointed energy minister by late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, serving in that job until 2014. He later was the country's ambassador to the United Nations, but left after being accused of corruption by Venezuelan officials amid a purge of executives at state oil firm PDVSA.
Incorporated in 1988, Harvest operated as a publicly held independent energy company engaged in the development and production of oil and gas properties from 1989 until the company was dissolved in May 2017.
Recommended Reading
Oil States’ ACTIVEHub for Digitized Assets
2024-03-14 - Oil States Energy Services’ new ACTIVEHub system and ACTIVELatch help operators remotely monitor and automate frac locations for a more efficient and safer wellsite.
Tech Trends: Safety, Speed, Savings: Automation is Transforming Drilling
2024-03-26 - Drilling is getting smarter through automation, delivering efficiency, consistency and reliability.
Cyber-informed Engineering Can Fortify OT Security
2024-03-12 - Ransomware is still a top threat in cybersecurity even as hacktivist attacks trend up, and the oil and gas sector must address both to maintain operational security.
Going with the Flow: Universities, Operators Team on Flow Assurance Research
2024-03-05 - From Icy Waterfloods to Gas Lift Slugs, operators and researchers at Texas Tech University and the Colorado School of Mines are finding ways to optimize flow assurance, reduce costs and improve wells.
Fracturing’s Geometry Test
2024-02-12 - During SPE’s Hydraulic Fracturing Technical Conference, industry experts looked for answers to their biggest test – fracture geometry.