Participants of the seminar on oil and gas arbitration benefited from the generous sharing of knowledge and experience by our speaker, Mr. Shourav Lahiri, who covered a wide gamut of topics related to arbitration in the industry. Chaired by Mr. Naresh Mahtani, the session commenced with an introduction of the types of contracts and disputes that commonly arise in the oil and gas industry, with the oil and gas chain (upstream, midstream and downstream) forming the basic structure of the discussion. Mr. Lahiri explored the issues that regularly arise in such arbitrations, which included not only substantive legal and factual issues such as ground and climatic conditions, delay and cost overrun, warranty provisions and limitation of liability claims, but also some of the procedural issues that have arisen in reported decisions of various national courts. Such procedural matters included multi-tiered dispute resolution mechanisms, protective measures and disclosure processes.
The examples of disputes and case law cited in the discussion also illustrated the fact that oil and gas disputes involve a wide range of expertise, including not just the expertise of arbitration counsel, but also technical experts with a range of specialties depending on the issues involved. As the speaker correctly pointed out, this is a highly technical area where cases may be won or lost on the understanding of technicalities.
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In concluding his presentation, Mr. Lahiri discussed the various opportunities available to arbitration practitioners, explaining how arbitration practitioners from different backgrounds and specialties may develop expertise in this industry in different ways. Although the comprehensive presentation and Q&A session afterwards meant that the session lasted a little longer than scheduled, it was thoroughly engaging, with some participants staying on to chat with the speaker after the end of the formal agenda.
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Reported by:
Tan Weiyi – Baker McKenzie.Wong & Leow