A Dutch court rejected oil company Llanos Oil’s request to seize the
home of the Colombian ambassador to the Hague, local media report.
The oil company demands 7 billion euros (US$9.5 billion) of the Colombian state, because it claims Colombian State oil company Ecopetrol breached a contract with the oil company.
The court did allow the company to seize all Ecopetrol assets in the Netherlands at the end of last year, but says the seizure of the home of the ambassador would go against the Geneva convention that doesn’t allow the seizure of public property.
Llanos Oil, Ecopetrol and the Colombian State are involved in a years-long dispute over a contract to research the possibilities to drill for oil in Guatapuri. The Dutch oil company says the contract was breached to favor U.S. mining company Drummond.
One of the company’s directors was sentenced to 20 years in jail by a Colombian judge for collaborating with paramilitary organization AUC. The company says this was a setup.