Bird & Bird has won a USD 149 million judgment from the English Commercial Court for Carpatsky Petroleum Corporation, a subsidiary of Kuwait Energy, in a dispute with PJSC Ukrnafta arising out of a joint activity agreement relating to gas fields in Ukraine.
According to Bird & Bird, the firm “sought to enforce an arbitral award from Stockholm under the New York Convention in London. Ukrnafta claimed that the award was invalid claiming fraud, issue estoppel, varying governing laws, the invalidity of the arbitration agreement, and non-existent parties to agreements. The claims led to a full retrial of all issues raised in the arbitration and experts in Ukrainian civil and criminal law, Delaware law, and Swedish law were required. The case has provided good guidance from the English Commercial Court on issue estoppel and the inability of parties to swap and change governing laws between different courts.”
"This has been a hard-fought legally technical dispute which has lasted over three years,” stated Sophie Eyre, Partner and Co-Head of Bird & Bird's London Dispute Resolution Practice, who led the firm's team on the case. “Our London Dispute Resolution team has proudly represented CPC throughout the process and ultimately, the English Commercial Court came to the right conclusion."
Eyre was assisted by Bird & Bird Associate Simona Peter.
