Dow Chemical Receives $2.2 Billion in damages from Kuwait

Post date: May 8, 2013 4:56:55 AM

May 7 (Reuters) - Dow Chemical Co has received $2.2 billion in damages from Kuwait's state chemicals company, bringing an end to a more than four-year dispute over a scrapped plastics joint venture.

The cash payment comes a year after an international arbitrator told Petrochemical Industries Co (PIC), a unit of state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corp, to pay up for pulling out of the $17.4 billion K-Dow petrochemical venture in December 2008. PIC had cited the deteriorating global economy for its withdrawal.

K-Dow was a politically sensitive deal in major oil exporter Kuwait and came under scrutiny in parliament, where lawmakers often clash with the government, especially over large state investments.

Last year the International Chamber of Commerce's International Court ruled that PIC had violated its agreement with Dow Chemical.

The U.S. company intends to use the payment to reduce debt and pay shareholder dividends, Chief Executive Andrew Liveris said in a statement on Tuesday.