Dana Gas, partners awarded arbitration payments in KRG dispute

Dana Gas and its consortium partners have been awarded $14m plus interest in a dispute with Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), the UAE company said on Tuesday.

The case was filed with the London Court of International Arbitration in 2013 over payments for gas liquids production.

The court ordered the KRG to pay $14m along with an interest rate of Libor plus 2 per cent as a first partial payment for the legal costs incurred, Dana said in a statement.

The KRG was also asked to bear 85 per cent of the arbitration fees and tribunal fees and expenses up to Nov. 27, 2015. Legal costs incurred in the arbitration case after that date will be subject to future costs awards from the tribunal, Dana said.

Dana Gas, which aims to restructure a $700m sukuk after delays in payments from Egypt and Iraq’s Kurdish region left it cash-strapped, has invested in excess of $1.2bn together with its partners and has produced over 150 million barrels equivalent of gas and petroleum liquids in Iraq’s Kurdistan.

Dana Gas, Crescent Petroleum, and Pearl Petroleum Company filed a case against the KRG at the London Court of International Arbitration in October 2013 regarding their contract with the Kurdish government.

In July 2015 the arbitration court confirmed the claimants’ long-term contractual rights, and in November that year it awarded them $1.96bn for outstanding unpaid invoices.

Last February, the court ordered the KRG to pay $121m to Dana and its partners for condensate and liquefied petroleum gas lifted by or on behalf of the KRG between June 30, 2015 and March 31, 2016.

Pearl Petroleum said last May that Pearl, Dana and Crescent Petroleum had applied to the US District Court for recognition and enforcement of awards made at the London Court of International Arbitration against the Kurdistan government.

Pearl said it was seeking another $26.5bn in damages through a final phase of arbitration, expected to begin in September.