The Yukos group of companies, whose controlling shareholders were OAO Yukos Oil Company, Hulley Enterprises Limited (Cyprus), Yukos Universal Limited (Isle of Man) and Veteran Petroleum Limited (Cyprus), was supposed to benefit from tax exemptions. However, in 2002, these exemptions were revoked at the Closed Administrative Territorial Units (“ZATOs”). Then, starting in 2003, Yukos suffered […]
VANNESSA VENTURES LTD. V. THE BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA (ICSID CASE NO ARB (AF)/04/6) – AWARD 16 January 2013
On 16 January 2013, an Arbitral Tribunal rendered an award dismissing all claims on the merits of the Canadian company Vanessa Ventures Ltd in relation to its investment in a mining project in Venezuela, under a bilateral investment treaty between Canada and Venezuela. At the beginning of the 1990’s, Placer Dome Inc (“PDI”) had contracted […]
OPIC KARIMUM CORPORATION V. THE BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA (ICSID CASE No. ARB/10/14) – DECISION ON THE PROPOSAL TO DISQUALIFY PROFESSOR PHILIPPE SANDS, ARBITRATOR, MAY 5, 2011
This decision concerns the rejection of a challenge to the arbitrator Professor Phillipe Sands, who had been appointed by Respondent, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The challenge was made by Claimant on the basis that Phillipe Sands had been appointed previously by Respondent, and also previously by Respondent’s counsel, as arbitrator in ICSID and non-ICSID […]
BG GROUP PLC. V. REPUBLIC OF ARGENTINA – CASE NO. U.S. 12-138 (2014) – U.S. SUPREME COURT
In this dispute, the Claimant was part of a consortium owning majority shares in MetroGas, for the distribution of natural gas in Buenos Aires. Before the 2001 financial crisis, Argentinean law provided that gas tariffs were calculated in US dollars for profitable returns. However, the crisis led to emergency measures, one of which implemented a […]
Formal Requirements an Arbitration Award Must Satisfy to Be Enforceable in England and Wales: Anthony Lombard-Knight v Rainstorm [2014] EWCA Civ 356
This case concerns the formal requirements that an arbitration award must satisfy in order to be enforceable in England and Wales under the New York Convention of 1958 and the Arbitration Act 1996. Those instruments require that an arbitration award be duly authenticated or that its copy be duly certified. This case concerns the meaning […]