Arbitration NEWS

Petrobras yesterday said in securities filing about making a payment of $700 million to US oilfield services provider, Vantage Drilling Company. The payment pertains to the termination of a 2015-contract awarded by Petrobras to Vantage. The payment comes after US court decision denied Petrobras’ request to revoke the result of an earlier arbitration in Holland. Petrobras has said that the payment does not imply an end to the litigation.

GAIL has approached National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) after Videocon’s resolution professional rejected its ₹390 crore claim in the insolvency resolution process. The Mumbai bench of NCLT has asked Videocon’s resolution professional to reply by June 10, and GAIL to file its rejoinder by June 17. The Videocon Group owes more than ₹85,000 crore to lenders.

Canada-based Niko Resources has served an arbitration notice to its partners in India’s KG-D6 block, RIL and BP plc. According to an earnings statement from RIL, Niko Resources, which holds 10% stakes in the KG-D6 block, had defaulted on cash calls during the October-December quarter. As Niko failed to cure the default, a default notice was triggered and the Canadian oil and gas firm was asked to exit the block.

Supermajor, ConocoPhillips’ long-drawn legal battle with Venezuela has finally started to bore fruits. The US oil firm yesterday informed about receiving an initial payment of $345 million, which came in the form of “cash and commodities” from Venezuela’s PDVSA. ConocoPhillips crushed profit expectations for the third quarter, aided by PDVSA’s payment.

Korea’s power utility, Korea Western Power Company (Kowepo) has initiated arbitration measures against India. Kowepo has cited "not honouring fuel supply commitment to its gas-based power plant in Maharashtra" as the reason in the arbitration notice. The Korean firm holds 40% stakes in Pioneer Gas Power Limited (PGPL) which runs a 388 Mw project in Raigad. Kowepo is seeking resolution of issues in 6 months or $400-million in compensation.

An International arbitration panel has rejected Indian government’s argument of unjust enrichment in the gas siphoning case. The information came from a filing to stock exchange by Reliance Industries. The panel said that the consortium of RIL, BP and Niko Resources was entitled to produce all gas from its contract area. The arbitration tribunal also directed the Government of India to pay $8.3m to the consortium as cost of arbitration.

Russian oil major, Rosneft has slammed a $1.4bn lawsuit against a consortium led by oil supermajor, ExxonMobil. Rosneft has filed the suit in a local arbitration court, alleging the consortium, which is working on the Sakhalin-1 project, of “unjust enrichment” in 2015, demanding payment of $1.41bn. Analysts see the lawsuit further deteriorating foreign investor appetite in Russia’s energy industry, which is already in a miserable state due to western sanctions.

An international tribunal fined Petrobras yesterday with a whopping $622 million for breaching a 2009 contract with a unit of Vantage Drilling. Petrobras found out that its executive had unduly awarded Vantage a contract, and notified Vantage in 2015 that its contract has been terminated, claiming Vantage breached terms. In return, Vantage filed an arbitration claim against PAI, PVIS and Petrobras reasoning for “wrongful termination.”