Work Area: Investor-state arbitration
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
Former pipeline operator brings ICSID claim against Ecuador
An Argentine-owned energy company has launched an ICSID claim against Ecuador over the state’s failure to release it from US$100 million worth of guarantees issued in connection with the handover of a major oil pipeline.
23 April 2025
Myanmar faces first ICSID case
An Australian mining company that left Myanmar in the wake of its 2021 military coup has launched an ICSID claim against the southeast Asian state, invoking a regional free trade agreement.
23 April 2025
Korea drops challenge to hedge fund's award
South Korea has said it will not pursue a further appeal over a US$43 million investment treaty award in favour of US hedge fund Mason Capital after a Singapore court rejected its annulment bid earlier this year.
22 April 2025
Ethiopia faces claim over potash project
A British Virgin Islands-registered mining company is bringing an arbitration against Ethiopia after its licence for a potash project was revoked.
22 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
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