The total compensation that Chevron has to pay to the National Agency for Mineral Resources (ANRM) in the process won by the Romanian state following the termination by the company of three oil concession agreements amounts to approximately 97.2 million dollars, says the lawyer who represented NAMR in court.
Besides the amount of 73.45 million dollars that it has to pay as disbursements to the Romanian state, the decision of the International Court of Arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC Paris), the Chevron oil company must also pay interest at the reference rate of NBR + 8%, calculated from 23 October 2014 until the date of full payment, so that the total amount of the payment, including the interest calculated up to 1 February 2018, is approximately 97.2 million dollars. It will also be added the trial costs, according to Law Office Zamfirescu Racoţi & Partners, which represented ANRM in court, says News.ro.
The dispute arose in relation to the company obligations after it withdrew from the three concession oil exploration agreements it had with ANRM. More specifically, the central element of the dispute was focused on the obligations of the Minimum Program of Exploration and the necessity of making available to ANRM the value of the works stipulated in this program, and not executed at the date of the abandonment of the oil agreement.
The government announced on Saturday that the Romanian state won the lawsuit with Chevron and the company was forced to pay $ 73,450,000 in damages following the termination of three concession oil concessions without complying with the financial obligations under the Oil Law. The decision belongs to the International Court of Arbitration attached to the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris, which was asked to rule in the dispute between Chevron and ANRM.
ANRM and Chevron Romania Holdings concluded on March 3, 2011, three concession agreements for exploitation-development-exploration in the EX 17 – Costinesti, EX – 18 Vama Veche and EX – 19 Adamclisi perimeters, approved by Government Decisions, stipulating minimum exploration obligations assumed by Chevron.
In November 2014, Chevron informed ANRM that it was giving up its concession agreements. ANRM refused to issue, however, the decision to terminate the concession, and it invoked the failure by the oil company to comply with Art. 40 of the Oil Law. More specifically, Chevron `was considered responsible for not making available to the competent authority “the sum representing the value of the works provided for in the minimum exploration program established under the Oil agreement and in the Development and Operating agreement, due on the date of notification of the waiver and not executed for reasons attributable to the holder of the Oil Agreement”.
The US company appealed to the Court of Arbitration in June 2015, claiming that it had fulfilled its obligations under the oil agreements with ANRM to terminate the contracts.
By the end of 2015, ANRM submitted to the Paris Arbitration Court both the answer to the Request for Arbitration and a counterclaim by which it formulated financial claims resulting from the concession contracts.
Between 19-23 June 2017, the final hearings in the Chevron vs. ANRM arbitration file (21138 / MHM) were held in Paris, and the decision of the Arbitration Court was pronounced in favor of ANRM.