International law firm Hogan Lovells US LLP is representing Venezuela’s attorney general in a request filed with the Supreme Court regarding its case against oil company Helmerich & Payne International Drilling Co.

That certiorari petition seeks to appeal decisions made in a U.S. Circuit Court ruling earlier this year that argued whether Venezuela violated international law when it allegedly seized property belonging to Helmerich & Payne, and whether the litigation initiated by the oil company applies under rules established by the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, the 1976 law that grants immunity to foreign states in U.S. lawsuits.

According to Foreign Agents Registration Acts documents filed in March, Hogan Lovells said it plans to reach out to executive branch staff regarding the interests of the U.S. and Venezuela governments in connection with the firm’s representation of that country during the pending litigation.

Tulsa, OK-based Helmerich & Payne, which had operated deep-water drilling rigs off of Venezuela’s coast for more than half a century, in September 2011 sued the South American nation in Washington, D.C. federal court for hundreds of millions, after Venezuela allegedly broke drilling contracts and seized nearly a dozen of its rigs.

Helmerich & Payne’s Venezuela-based subsidiary H&P-V inked a series of drilling contracts with Venezuela's state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, but PDVSA allegedly missed numerous payments, with unpaid invoices allegedly totaling more than $60 million by the summer of 2008, according to U.S. Appeals Court documents.

As a result, the company in 2010 announced its decision to disassemble its fleet of rigs and leave the country. This allegedly resulted in armed members of the Venezuelan National Guard seizing the rigs for the purpose of turning them over to PDVSA and bringing them back into production.

Helmerich & Payne and its Venezuelan subsidiary brought suit against Venezuela and PDVSA in the D.C. Circuit Court for breach of contract, as well as the claim that the country’s alleged illegal seizure of the company’s property is in violation of international law.

The defendants argued that the property expropriated was not owned by H&P, but by Venezuelan subsidiary H&P-V, which was incorporated under Venezuelan law. Venezuela and PDVSA further claimed that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which sets limitations on foreign nations' ability to be sued in American courts, invalidated the suit.

The court in May agreed that, as a Venezuelan national, H&P-V could not seek redress in a U.S. court for alleged wrongs endured in its country. However, the court rejected the defendants’ claim of immunity under FSIA, citing statutory exemptions in the case of commercial activity. That court’s decision was appealed by both sides.

Helmerich & Payne Inc. in November petitioned the Supreme Court to take up its case. That certiorari request claims the court’s decision to dismiss H&P-V’s breach of contract claims could have a deleterious effect on international commerce and also counters prior circuits’ decisions.

"This rule would permit a foreign sovereign to form a contract in the United States, utilize parts, supplies, and services from the United States, and benefit from the knowledge and expertise of companies in the United States, while leaving those American parties with no remedy in U.S. courts if the foreign sovereign breached its obligations abroad," the petition read. "This would defeat the expectations of the U.S. contracting parties and have a chilling effect on U.S. commerce."

Venezuela in October also petitioned the Supreme Court on the case.

The Supreme Court on February 29 called for the Solicitor General Office to file a brief expressing the U.S.’s view on the pending request. According to FARA documents, Hogan Lovells intends to request a meeting with the Solicitor General's Office on behalf of Venezuela officials concerning the Supreme Court's order. The intended meeting “may include other agency officials as well, at the Solicitor General's discretion,” the FARA document reads, and “will be limited to the respective interests of the U.S. and Venezuela in the litigation.”

“While we believe that contact with the U.S. government officials regarding the aforementioned litigation quality for the exception under FARA section 631(g) for ‘persons qualified to practice law,’ we nevertheless submit this registration in case the nature of such contacts might be deemed to exceed the scope of the exemption.”

Hogan Lovells in 2014 previously helped Venezuela with U.S. relations work, after President Obama signed legislation imposing sanctions on that country for its crackdown on demonstrators protesting Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.