Attorneys for energy magnate Harry Sargeant III, who lost a $28.8 million lawsuit in Palm Beach Circuit Court involving wartime fuel sales in Iraq, appeared before a federal appellate court to keep the Venezuelan state oil company at bay.

Sargeant, as owner of an asphalt refinery in Texas and a fuel and asphalt supplier, has been avoiding paying a $47 million arbitration award won by PDVSA Petroleo S.A., the Venezuelan energy company.