Region: Europe
Bahrain fails to overturn Iranian banks’ award
A Dutch court has upheld an investment treaty award ordering Bahrain to pay €214 million to two Iranian state-owned banks for the “politically motivated” expropriation of their local banking venture in the wake of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
23 April 2025
UK court rules India’s immunity not precluded by New York Convention
The Commercial Court in London has ruled that India’s ratification of the New York Convention is not in itself a waiver of sovereign immunity from the jurisdiction of the English courts in an action to enforce a US$194 million investment treaty award.
22 April 2025
Russia fails to stop enforcement of Crimea award
A US court has refused to dismiss a bid by Ukraine’s largest private energy company to enforce a US$267 million treaty award against Russia over the expropriation of its Crimean assets.
22 April 2025
Chilean state entity seeks enforcement in Spain
A Spanish contractor is facing a bid to enforce an ICC award issued in a US$158 million arbitration over a Chilean refinery upgrade – as it settles a dispute with an Algerian state entity over a power plant project.
22 April 2025
Russia sues arbitrators and counsel in ECT dispute
Russia has reportedly asked its own courts to restrain a German oil and gas producer from pursuing an Energy Charter Treaty claim on pain of a €7.5 billion penalty, while seeking to have the arbitrators and the investor’s German law firm held jointly liable if the arbitration proceeds.
17 April 2025
Naftogaz targets Russian assets in France
Ukraine’s Naftogaz says it has taken a “first step” towards seizing Russian state-owned assets in France to satisfy a US$5 billion investment treaty award – while in a separate dispute it is hit with a billion-dollar penalty by a Russian court over its failure to halt an ICC arbitration.
17 April 2025
Croatia loses immunity challenge to intra-EU ECT award
A US court has refused to dismiss a Hungarian investor’s action to enforce a US$261 million Energy Charter Treaty award against Croatia – finding the state’s sovereign immunity defence was “foreclosed” as a result of an appellate ruling on other intra-EU ECT awards.
17 April 2025
Nigerian LNG producer loses appeal over indemnity order
The Court of Appeal in London has upheld an UNCITRAL award requiring a Nigerian affiliate of Shell to indemnify a trader for hundreds of millions of dollars in arbitral debts caused by its failure to deliver supplies of liquified natural gas.
16 April 2025
Swiss roads investor threatens claim against Romania
A Swiss investor has threatened Romania with a treaty claim, saying its interest in a now-bankrupt road infrastructure company was destroyed by tax decisions and asset seizures imposed by the state authorities.
16 April 2025
UK sanctions agency issues general licence for arbitration costs
The UK’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has issued a general licence allowing payments to arbitrators and arbitral institutions from parties subject to the country’s Russia and Belarus sanctions regimes.
16 April 2025