Work Area: Oil and gas
Claim against Slovenia over fracking ban gets underway
A UK oil and gas company has filed a long-trailed ICSID claim against Slovenia worth more than €500 million after the state imposed a blanket ban on hydraulic fracturing to produce natural gas.
16 August 2022
A loss and a win for Peru
A US infrastructure group has won a US$177 million ICC award against a Peruvian government agency over a terminated project to build rural telecoms networks, as the Andean state announces it has defeated a US$97 million treaty claim by an oil investor.
11 August 2022
Sinopec wins damages in Ecuador oil dispute
Chinese state-owned energy company Sinopec has won a US$64 million award against Ecuador’s national oil company over three Amazonian projects, a case that saw Quinn Emanuel partner David Orta disqualified as arbitrator because of his ties to the claimant’s counsel.
10 August 2022
Ghanaian opposition raises alarm over oilfield dispute
Ghana’s opposition party has raised concerns that the country could be saddled with a multibillion-dollar arbitral debt thanks to government directives requiring Italy’s Eni and its Swiss partner to merge their oilfield with that of a rival operator.
09 August 2022
Japan’s Inpex launches billion-dollar claim against Korean shipbuilder
Japanese oil and gas producer Inpex has filed a US$970 million ICC claim against a Korean shipbuilder over delays and defects in the commissioning of a storage vessel for an offshore project.
08 August 2022
Moldova sees off one treaty claim and is hit with another
Moldova has defeated an €884 million treaty claim over an airport concession just as it is hit with a new Energy Charter Treaty claim by a gas distributor.
04 August 2022
Perenco secures freeze on Ecuador accounts in Luxembourg
Bahamian oil company Perenco has frozen Luxembourg bank accounts used by Ecuador to make coupon payments associated with sovereign bonds, with the ICSID award holder claiming this raises the possibility of the state defaulting to creditors.
01 August 2022
“Side-switching” challenge rejected on appeal
A Spanish contractor has failed in a renewed bid to overturn a US$40 million ICC award over a Peruvian refinery on the basis that two members of its counsel team joined the opposing side’s law firm while the arbitration was pending – as a separate dispute over a US$1 billion project in Algeria gets underway.
27 July 2022
Force majeure issues in today’s gas market
Michelle Bock, Max Rockall, George von Mehren and Stephen Anway of Squire Patton Boggs consider issues of force majeure in the context of Gazprom’s sharp reduction in supplies of gas to Europe.
27 July 2022
Award creditor targets Haiti assets held by US airline
A fuel importer that won a US$23 million award of security against Haiti last year has sought to attach state assets held by American Airlines until the arbitration is concluded.
25 July 2022