Al-Qarqani v ARAB American Oil Company and Aramco Services Company - U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas - Case 4-18-cv-18-1807 - Order - 2 August 2019
Country
Year
2019
Summary
BACKGROUND
In 1933, the Saudi Arabian government and Standard Oil Company of California ("SoCal"), now Chevron, signed a Concession Agreement ("Concession Agreement"). Dkt. 9 at 5. The Concession Agreement gave SoCal surface rights to land in Saudi Arabia to search for oil. Id. at 6. Arabian American Oil Company ("Aramco") was organized during this time as a subsidiary of SoCal. Dkt. 28 at 11. ASC, once known as Aramco Realty Company, was organized in 1950 and was a subsidiary of Aramco, which was a subsidiary of SoCal. Dkt. 28 at 10; Dkt. 29-4; Dkt. 29-3. By 1988, the Saudi government had bought all of Aramco's assets and established the Saudi Arabian Oil Company ("Saudi Aramco"). Dkt. 9 at 6; Dkt. 28 at 11. Two years later, in 1990, Aramco dissolved. Dkt. 16-4; Dkt. 16-3 (Horton Declaration).
Petitioners are the heirs, beneficiaries and titleholders of the lands that were subject to the Concession Agreement. Dkt. 9 at 4. In June 2015, Petitioners obtained an arbitral award against Chevron entities, which included Chevron U.S.A. and Chevron Saudi Arabia, for failure to compensate Petitioners for the use of the land subject to the Concession Agreement. Dkt. 9-2 at 6. The arbitral award also purported to bind Aramco, which at that time had already dissolved. Id. Petitioners brought the present suit seeking to confirm the arbitral award against ASC. Id. at 7. Petitioners allege that ASC is a subsidiary of Aramco. Id. at 2. ASC has moved to dismiss the enforcement of this arbitral award under FRCP 12(b)(1) and FRCP 12(b)(6) because it was not a party to the arbitration agreement. Dkt. 16.