Court Seizes Malaysia Oil Firm Assets Amid $15 Billion Dispute

A Luxembourg court has issued seizure orders for two units of Malaysia’s state oil company Petronas as part of an arbitration case brought against the Malaysian state by the descendants of a now-defunct sultanate in the Philippines. The court case is based on a deal made in the late 19th century by European colonists of Southeast Asia with the then-sultan of Sulu for the use of local land. Now, this land is part of Malaysia, which honored the 19th-century deal until 2013 and, as part of it, paid the descendants of the sultan $1,000 annually.…