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P&ID v. Nigeria, Order of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, December 21, 2023

21 Dec 2023
Process and Industrial Developments Ltd (P&ID) v. Nigeria Ministry of Petroleum Resources
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Order of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales,
Document Details:
LISTED PARTICIPANTS
Order of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales,
Participants listed are for this document only and may not include all participants involved in the entire case. Always consult the original documents.
Claimant appointee
Respondent appointee
Tribunal/Panel chair
Arbitrator(s)
Sole Arbitrator
ICSID Annulment Committee president
ICSID Annulment Committee members
WTO Appellate Body members
WTO Appellate Body chair
Judges
Robin Knowles
Claimant's counsel
Claimant's law firm
Respondent's counsel
Respondent's law firm
Other counsel
Claimant's expert
Claimant's expert firm
Respondent's expert
Respondent's expert firm
Claimant's witness
Respondent's witness
Other witnesses
Tribunal secretary
Tribunal assistant
Third-party funder
Entities
Nigeria, Process and Industrial Developments Ltd., Quinn Emanuel, Kobre & Kim
Country
United Kingdom
Print reporter
Document Summary
Order of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales,
This summary note is machine-generated. Always consult the original materials.

Procedural Posture

This Order, issued by Mr Justice Robin Knowles of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales (Commercial Court) on 21 December 2023, addresses consequential matters following the Court's substantive judgment dated 23 October 2023. The underlying proceedings involved applications by the Federal Republic of Nigeria under Sections 67 and 68 of the Arbitration Act 1996 to set aside an Award on Liability (dated 17 July 2015) and a Final Award (dated 31 January 2017) rendered in favor of Process & Industrial Developments Limited (P&ID), alongside P&ID's cross-application to enforce the Final Award under Section 66.

Court's Findings and Reasoning

In its preceding substantive judgment, the Court determined that the arbitral awards were obtained by fraud and that the manner in which they were procured was contrary to public policy, satisfying the stringent threshold for intervention under Section 68(2)(g) of the Arbitration Act 1996. Consequently, the Court concluded that the awards could not stand and that enforcement must be denied.

Operative Directions and Relief

The Court ordered that both the Award on Liability and the Final Award be set aside in their entirety. Furthermore, the Court refused P&ID leave to appeal pursuant to Section 68(4) of the Arbitration Act 1996. The prior order granting enforcement (the Butcher J Order) was formally set aside, and P&ID's enforcement application was dismissed. On the issue of costs, P&ID was ordered to pay Nigeria’s costs of the proceedings on the standard basis, including reserved costs, and was directed to make an interim payment on account of costs in the sum of £20 million within 28 days. Finally, the Court issued specific directions regarding the provision and subsequent permanent deletion of ringfenced documents held by Kobre & Kim.