- Venezuela is seeking to recuse two arbitrators on a World Bank tribunal hearing in a dispute with ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP), less than a year after the tribunal rejected a similar request regarding the same arbitrators.
- Both had shown "a marked attitude against the Republic," according to the country's oil ministry.
- The dispute stems from Hugo Chavez's 2007 takeover of COP's oil projects including two multi-billion dollar heavy oil operations; the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes said in a partial ruling last year that the move was unlawful.