On Thursday, Trinidad and Tobago's High Court reportedly upheld ConocoPhillips' (NYSE:COP) arbitration claim against Venezuela, potentially freezing payments for joint natural gas projects.

In late May, the court's decision allowed ConocoPhillips to enforce a $1.33 billion claim against Venezuela for past expropriations by seizing compensation from joint energy projects.

Judge Frank Seepersad stated in his decision that Venezuela and its state-owned company PDVSA missed the deadline to present their arguments, reported Reuters.

Judge Seepersad said in May, when he made his original decision, "The order gives to the claimant a green light to be able to enforce the judgment in Trinidad if they can establish there are assets held by the defendants or there is money which is owed to the defendant by entities in Trinidad and Tobago."

Earlier this month, Venezuela's embassy in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad, acknowledged receiving the court order, the report noted.

PDVSA paid Conoco about $700 million under a settlement agreement but halted payments in late 2019.

Since then, Conoco has pursued enforcement actions in Caribbean nations to uphold arbitration rulings against Venezuela and PDVSA.

In a U.S. federal court, ConocoPhillips is among the top creditors seeking proceeds from an auction of shares in PDVSA subsidiary PDV Holding, which owns Citgo, the report highlighted.

Last week, ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO) received a Second Request from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to extend the Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period.

Investors can gain exposure to COP via IShares U.S. Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (BATS:IEO) and Westwood Salient Enhanced Energy Income ETF (NASDAQ:WEEI).

Price Action: COP shares are down 0.79% at $115.69 at the last check Friday.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.