HOUSTON – Exxon Mobil Corp. and Exxon Mobil Canada LTD have filed a motion in the Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas to voluntarily dismiss a lawsuit they filed against several parties of an oil exploration project in Papua New Guinea after the investors dismissed Exxon from the arbitration against them.
The motion to dismiss was filed on May 4. Exxon requested to voluntarily dismiss the suit without prejudice against the defendants, noting that the defendants had not filed for summary judgment, appeared or served an answer. Exxon also said in its motion that the defendants voluntarily dismissed InterOil Corp and Exxon Mobile Canada Holdings ULC from the arbitration against them.
Exxon filed a complaint for declaratory relief in March, asking the court to declare that “Exxon Mobil Corp. and Exxon Mobil Canada LTD are not required to, and cannot be required to, participate in any way in the arbitration” filed in February by investors of the Papua New Guinea oil exploration project by InterOil.
Exxon claimed defendants Polygon PNG LP, Bernard Selz, Selz Family Trust DTD 5/31/2011, John J. Mack, Pacific LNG Operations Pte LTD, Pequot PNG Oil Inc., Priorat Partners LP, Bruce E. Hendry 2012 Irrevocable Trust and CVI Investments Inc. in are investors of InterOil Corp, which Exxon Mobile Canada merged with in 2017.
The investors signed an agreement with InterOil in 2005 to “indirectly participate” in the Papua New Guinea oil project, which the investors claim wasted more than $70 million. The investors filed an order for arbitration against Exxon Mobil Canada Holdings ULC, Exxon Mobil Corp. and InterOil Corp. in February, according to Law360.
Exxon alleged that most of the investors' claims for breach of contract against the agreement with InterOil took place before 2015, when Exxon had no relationship with InterOil, making Exxon Mobile Canada non-signatories and not bound by the arbitration clause of the investor’s agreement with InterOil.
Exxon is represented by James L. Loftis, Timothy J. Tyler, Quentin L. Smith and Caroline Stewart of Vinson & Elkins LLP in Houston.
Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas case number 4:18-cv-00884