"According to officials at the Assembly, the text spells out that “no cause or motive can give origin to a foreign claims or international arbitration.” According to National Assembly Deputy Angel Rodríguez, who heads the energy and mines committee at the legislature, the Bill specifically stipulates that any claims and any resort to international arbitration “are discounted” in the text. “Venezuela will not concede its jurisdiction in this type of dispute,” he declared.

However, it may be that things won’t turn out quite that straightforward. One legal observer of this reporter’s acquaintance noted that the principle under which legislation cannot be applied on a retroactive basis is enshrined in Venezuelan law.

That, it’s argued, would clearly apply to any change in status or equity holdings in petrochemicals companies on the grounds that those companies were incorporated before the takeover law hit the statute book. And this, the legal observer concludes, “could open the door for them to resort to international law if they felt they had a case, and regardless of what the later law states.”