Litigation award reduction



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| Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements | [Table of Contents](#if18581573a6045f6b6e889320c9d1887_7) |

Litigation and Other ContingenciesWe are subject to various lawsuits and claims including, but not limited to, matters involving oil and gas royalty and severance tax payments, gas measurement and valuation methods, contract disputes, environmental damages, climate change, personal injury, and property damage. Our primary exposures for such matters relate to alleged royalty and tax underpayments on certain federal, state and privately owned properties, claims of alleged environmental contamination and damages from historic operations, and climate change. We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously in these matters.Our legal organization applies its knowledge, experience and professional judgment to the specific characteristics of our cases, employing a litigation management process to manage and monitor the legal proceedings against us. Our process facilitates the early evaluation and quantification of potential exposures in individual cases. This process also enables us to track those cases that have been scheduled for trial and/or mediation. Based on professional judgment and experience in using these litigation management tools and available information about current developments in all our cases, our legal organization regularly assesses the adequacy of current accruals and determines if adjustment of existing accruals, or establishment of new accruals, is required.We have contingent liabilities resulting from throughput agreements with pipeline and processing companies not associated with financing arrangements. Under these agreements, we may be required to provide any such company with additional funds through advances and penalties for fees related to throughput capacity not utilized. In addition, at June 30, 2022, we had performance obligations secured by letters of credit of $320 million (issued as direct bank letters of credit) related to various purchase commitments for materials, supplies, commercial activities and services incident to the ordinary conduct of business.In 2007, ConocoPhillips was unable to reach agreement with respect to the empresa mixta structure mandated by the Venezuelan government’s Nationalization Decree. As a result, Venezuela’s national oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), or its affiliates, directly assumed control over ConocoPhillips’ interests in the Petrozuata and Hamaca heavy oil ventures and the offshore Corocoro development project. In response to this expropriation, ConocoPhillips initiated international arbitration on November 2, 2007, with the ICSID. On September 3, 2013, an ICSID arbitration tribunal held that Venezuela unlawfully expropriated ConocoPhillips’ significant oil investments in June 2007. On January 17, 2017, the Tribunal reconfirmed the decision that the expropriation was unlawful. In March 2019, the Tribunal unanimously ordered the government of Venezuela to pay ConocoPhillips approximately $8.7 billion in compensation for the government’s unlawful expropriation of the company’s investments in Venezuela in 2007. On August 29, 2019, the ICSID Tribunal issued a decision rectifying the award and reducing it by approximately $227 million. The award now stands at $8.5 billion plus interest. The government of Venezuela sought annulment of the award, which automatically stayed enforcement of the award. On September 29, 2021, the ICSID annulment committee lifted the stay of enforcement of the award.In 2014, ConocoPhillips filed a separate and independent arbitration under the rules of the ICC against PDVSA under the contracts that had established the Petrozuata and Hamaca projects. The ICC Tribunal issued an award in April 2018, finding that PDVSA owed ConocoPhillips approximately $2 billion under their agreements in connection with the expropriation of the projects and other pre-expropriation fiscal measures. In August 2018, ConocoPhillips entered into a settlement with PDVSA to recover the full amount of this ICC award, plus interest through the payment period, including initial payments totaling approximately $500 million within a period of 90 days from the time of signing of the settlement agreement. The balance of the settlement is to be paid quarterly over a period of four and a half years. Per the settlement, PDVSA recognized the ICC award as a judgment in various jurisdictions, and ConocoPhillips agreed to suspend its legal enforcement actions. ConocoPhillips sent notices of default to PDVSA on October 14 and November 12, 2019, and to date PDVSA has failed to cure its breach. As a result, ConocoPhillips has resumed legal enforcement actions. To date, ConocoPhillips has received approximately $771 million in connection with the ICC award. ConocoPhillips has ensured that the settlement and any actions taken in enforcement thereof meet all appropriate U.S. regulatory requirements, including those related to any applicable sanctions imposed by the U.S. against Venezuela.In 2016, ConocoPhillips filed a separate and independent arbitration under the rules of the ICC against PDVSA under the contracts that had established the Corocoro Project. On August 2, 2019, the ICC Tribunal awarded ConocoPhillips approximately $33 million plus interest under the Corocoro contracts. ConocoPhillips is seeking recognition and enforcement of the award in various jurisdictions. ConocoPhillips has ensured that all the actions related to the award meet all appropriate U.S. regulatory requirements, including those related to any applicable sanctions imposed by the U.S. against Venezuela.  


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|  | ConocoPhillips      2022 Q2 10-Q | 16 |


