Opinion ID: 3040536
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: $2 Million Payable by COPCL Directly To Third-

Text: Party Contractors For Social Programs Within The Congo. Af-Cap argues that the obligations to pay for social programs, or the payments themselves, constitute Congolese property used for a commercial activity in the United States because under the agreement, “the obligations were paid for the benefit of, and at the direction of, the Congo.” This argument is not convincing. 8 Af-Cap makes a very similar argument with respect to the tax and royalty obligations and the Moho/Bilondo bonuses, contending, for example, that they were used for a commercial activity in the United States “since they are an integral part of oil exploration operations conducted in substantial part in the U.S.” However, as the district court noted, no oil has been discovered in those fields. Therefore, any demand for execution on royalties and bonuses attributable to those fields is premature. 1004 AF-CAP v. CHEVRONTEXACO Assuming, without deciding, that the obligations or payments are Congolese property, “there was no commercial activity separate from the transaction that generated the property in the first place,” Walker Int’l Holdings Ltd., 395 F.3d at 236, and, as we have held, supra, how that property was generated is irrelevant. See id. at 235 (“[T]he fact that the property was generated by commercial activity, namely, oil exploration, is irrelevant.”). The decisive point is that Af-Cap has presented no evidence that the Congo put the obligations or payments in the service of a commercial activity in the United States. Cf. CBC, 309 F.3d at 258 (concluding that by using a letter of credit provided by a United States bank to secure the services of a United States company, the foreign sovereign used the letter of credit for a commercial activity in the United States).