A lawyer for a subsidiary of Houston-based ConocoPhillips said a court in the Dutch Antilles had authorized it to seize $1.94 billion worth of assets held on Bonaire island by Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA.

Conoco is seeking to recover $2 billion in a dispute over expropriation of its oil projects by Venezuela’s economically struggling socialist government. The lawyer spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to reporters.

The seizure of the oil storage terminal on Bonaire followed a similar ruling in recent days allowing Conoco to seize $636 million worth of assets on the nearby island of Curacao.

The dispute with Conoco threatens to disrupt Venezuela’s already depressed oil exports and cost thousands of jobs in the Dutch Caribbean.
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