The High Court of Lagos has set aside the Arbitral Tribunal
Award which dismissed Global Gas and Refining Limitedd’s claim for a breach of
contract for the supply of gas by the Shell Petroleum Development Co of
Nigeria, also known as SHELL.
In the ruling delivered on Tuesday, the 25th day of
February, 2020, in Suit No: LD/1910GCM/2017 between Global Gas and Refining Ltd
v. Shell Petroleum Development Co of Nigeria Ltd, the High Court of Lagos,
Nigeria, set aside the ICC Award in which the Majority of the Arbitral Tribunal
(Prof. Oba Nsugbe, QC,SAN & Mrs Doyin Rhodes-Vivour,SAN; with Mrs Dorothy
Udeme Ufot,SAN dissenting & delivering a minority opinion upholding the
claims of the Claimant) dismissed the Claimant’s claims.
www.crystal.com.ng was informed that in the Court’s Ruling, the
learned judge underscored the fundamental importance of full and complete
disclosure in international commercial arbitration and inter alia upheld the
argument of Global Gas that the failure and neglect of the President of the
Arbitral Tribunal (Prof. Oba Nsugbe, QC, SAN) to disclose his earlier
involvement in a matter in which the Respondent in the Arbitration (SPDC) was
involved amounted to gross misconduct for which the Award delivered by the
Majority of the Arbitral Tribunal ought to and must be set aside.
Global Gas Refining Limited (GGRL) is an independent indigenous gas processing operator and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) producer, operating in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria.
It is on record that the company founded by Kenneth Yellowe is the first indigenous private company in Nigeria and West Africa to successfully embark on a multi-million dollar gas processing and refining facility in the country, with operations and assets situated in the Niger Delta creeks at Cawthorne Channel, Rivers State. This facility with such a tremendous capacity to advance the regional and national economic growth of the nation, was put in jeopardy by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC)’s inability to honour their side of a binding Gas Supply Agreement executed in March 1998 and renegotiated and resigned in March 2002.
Consequently, a large workforce comprising of several
hundreds of teeming Nigerian youths were laid off, experts of different
nationalities, several dozens of local contractors, as well as the thriving
host communities have all now been made redundant.
Over $400m secured from international financial institutions and individual investors are now also in jeopardy because of economically hurtful decisions being made by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC).