Arbitral award in Shell, Global Gas conflict set aside

A Lagos High Court has set aside the arbitral tribunal award, which dismissed Global Gas and Refining Limited’s claim for a breach of contract for the supply of gas by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC).

Trial judge, Taofiquat Oyekan-Abdullahi delivered the judgment in Suit No: LD/1910GCM/2017 between Global Gas and Refining Limited v. Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria.

In the ruling, the judge set aside the International Chambers of Commerce (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 delivering a minority opinion upholding the claims of the claimant) dismissed the claimant’s claims for damages for breach of the contract.

The judge stressed the fundamental importance of full disclosure in international commercial arbitration and upheld the argument of Global Gas that the failure and utter neglect of the President of the Arbitral Tribunal, Prof. Oba Nsugbe, QC, SAN to disclose his earlier involvement in a matter in which the 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.