Justice Sue Carr, of the High Court’s Queen’s Bench Division, threw out claims by Venezuela’s Astivenca against the oil company’s subsidiary, PDVSA Petroleo, because the oil-production arm was not a necessary or proper party to the main dispute with the offshore vessel owner.
At the core of the fight are claims by CH Offshore that Astivenca and PDVSA shipping outfit PDV Marina owe it $50m in unpaid hire and demobilisation costs for charters of CH Offshore’s 12,200-bhp, anchor handling tug supply vessels Amethyst and Turquoise (both built 2008).
