The Daily Journal — Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) has ordered Halliburton Servicios de Venezuela, S.A. to resume its productive operations through a precautionary measure issued in Ruling No. 327, corresponding to Case No. 2026-006.
The decision follows a request filed by the company’s legal representatives on March 24, 2026. The ruling instructs the current judicial custodian, José Alberto Núñez Gutiérrez, to return the company’s movable and immovable assets that remained under seizure.
The country’s highest court instructed the Trial, Mediation, and Enforcement Court of the Labor Judicial Circuit in Zulia state, based in Cabimas, to transfer the assets and restore the company’s possession of them. Halliburton will manage the assets as judicial custodian, with the right to use and operate them to keep its business activities running.
In its ruling, the TSJ stated that the assets are strategic and critical to the hydrocarbons industry. For that reason, the court authorized the company to carry out all activities related to its corporate purpose and commercial operations while the precautionary measure remains in effect.
The ruling also requires the appointment of a judicial inspector, whom the court will designate. The inspector will oversee compliance with the decision, prepare a judicial inventory of the seized assets, and submit periodic reports to the court on the implementation of the measure.
Labor dispute
Authorities did not seize Halliburton’s assets as part of a state expropriation or because of international sanctions. Instead, the seizure resulted from a labor dispute. The company later requested a precautionary measure to temporarily suspend the effects of that decision, arguing that the shutdown of its equipment prevented it from restarting operations and jeopardized assets considered strategic to Venezuela’s oil industry.
Return to the Venezuelan market
Halliburton, one of the world’s largest oilfield services companies, has operated in Venezuela for decades. The company provides specialized drilling, cementing, well maintenance, and well intervention services for the hydrocarbons sector.
Halliburton gradually scaled back its operations and ended its productive activities in Venezuela in late 2020 after the United States imposed sanctions on the Venezuelan oil sector and restricted business with PDVSA. Since then, the company has maintained only limited operations while awaiting changes to the licensing framework administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
