Challenging the economic logic of a c. USD 100 million LNG take-or-pay claim
Situation : Différends
L'arbitrage
Contexte
A dispute arose under a long-term gas sale agreement involving take-or-pay obligations in an LNG delivery chainending in India. The claimant sought compensation based on the full value of undelivered gas. The key issue was whether that amount reflected the actual loss of a gas marketer operating in a back-to-back contractual structure.
Principaux enseignements
The analysis helped the Tribunal assess the claimant’s real economic position rather than the face value of the contractual claim. The direct and cross-examination provided the Tribunal avec a clear understandingthat a full-value claim could materially overstate loss where the claimant acted as a low-margin marketer and did not incur equivalent upstream exposure.
Rôle de précision
Our experts analysed the LNG transaction chain and quantified the claimant’s actual economic exposure as a marketer. We tested the impact of resale, internal consumption and the absence of equivalent upstream take-or-pay charges on the claimed loss.