Work Area: Investor-state arbitration
Study finds green transition could prompt US$340 billion in ISDS claims
Government action to stop global warming could trigger more than US$340 billion in claims from oil and gas investors, according to a new study calling for an “abolitionist approach” to investment treaties.
10 May 2022
Firtash claim against Ukraine comes to light
A company owned by Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash launched an Energy Charter Treaty claim against Ukraine earlier this year over the refusal of its courts to enforce a US$260 million award against a state entity of “strategic importance”, GAR has learned.
09 May 2022
Ex-Oxy employees fail to win share of billion-dollar award
A US appeals court has refused to order Occidental Petroleum to pay a group of its former employees a share of a billion-dollar ICSID award it won against Ecuador over a terminated oil block contract.
09 May 2022
Tort law holds answers to treaty arbitration problems, argues Douglas
In the first 3VB and Queen Mary lecture, Australian arbitrator Zachary Douglas QC argued that investment treaty arbitration is more akin to a tort claim against a public authority than to public or administrative law – to which it is often compared – and that recognising this provides solutions to some of the controversies preoccupying the field.
06 May 2022
Albania faces claim over gas turbine power plant
Albania is facing an Energy Charter Treaty claim by an Austrian engineering company over a failed power plant project – as the state sees a Belgian court issue attachments in relation to an ICSID award won by a group of Italian investors.
05 May 2022
Romania hit with another renewables claim
Romania is facing yet another Energy Charter Treaty claim at ICSID in the wake of cuts to its renewable energy incentives scheme.
04 May 2022
DRC reaches billion-dollar settlement with Gertler companies
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has reportedly reached a settlement worth US$2 billion with sanctioned Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler and two of his companies that will see the state withdraw an ICC claim over two oil blocks.
03 May 2022
Will US face treaty claims over oligarch measures?
US President Joe Biden’s proposals to make it easier to sell off assets of Russian oligarchs in response to the war in Ukraine could lead to investment arbitrations against the United States, but practitioners are doubtful that such claims would succeed.
29 April 2022
Iraq fails to revive claim over Saddam-era helicopter deal
A French court has rejected Iraq’s bid to revive a €62 million ICC claim over a contract for the supply of combat helicopters that was disrupted by an arms embargo against the former regime of Saddam Hussein.
22 April 2022
Libyan authority shakes off French attachments
A French court has lifted attachments on assets of the Libyan Investment Authority worth several hundred million euros – following a European Court of Justice ruling that practitioners say is also likely to complicate enforcement against Russian assets.
20 April 2022