The final hearing on two lawsuits including one for payments from gas sales filed by Niko Resources (Bangladesh) Ltd with the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) against the Bangladesh government, Petrobangla and Bapex will be held in November 2-7 in London.
The tribunal experts and representatives of the parties will take part in the hearing. The day was reserved for parties to question the tribunal experts on specified issues, it said in an order on August 19.
The ICSID is a part of the World Bank Group that facilitates the arbitration of legal investment disputes between international investors and host states. The three-member tribunal constituted in 2010 is presided over by Michael E Schneider of Germany.
A fresh date for the parties’ comments on the reports of the tribunal experts will be fixed today. Each party may respond to the other party’s comments by September 30. These responses must be strictly limited to the points raised in the parties’ comments, including any observations of the parties’ experts, the order said.
The tribunal envisages a procedural consultation by telephone conference prior to the hearing and propose such consultation to be held during the week of October 19, it said.
For the hearing, the Bangladesh government has changed its lawyer. Earlier, barrister Tawfique Newaz, husband of former foreign minister Dipu Moni, took part in the hearings.
The government has appointed USA-based law firm Foley Hoag LLP’s lawyer Derek Smith and lawyer barrister Imtiazuddin Ahmed Asif for the Niko case.
“We are taking preparation to move the lawsuits,” Petrobangla Chairman Istiaque Ahmad told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
In 2010, Niko filed a lawsuit with the ICSID after Petrobangla withheld payments on gas sales from the Feni Gas Field from 2006. It filed another case involving compensation for the two blowouts occurred at Chattak gas field in 2005, after a Bangladeshi court held Niko liable for the accident.
The blowouts took place while drilling at the gas field in Sunamganj, locally known as Tengratila field, on January 7 and June 24, 2005.
A government-formed probe committee held Niko responsible for the blowouts. On June 15, 2008, a case was filed against Niko with the Second Joint District Judge’s Court in Dhaka seeking Tk746.5 crore in compensation. The proceedings of the trial are still pending.
