Win Declared in West African Offshore Drilling Case

Global Arbitration Review recently looked at an ICC arbitration victory for Dallas-based Kosmos Energy and its Ghana subsidiary against its London-listed joint venture partner, Tullow Oil. The dispute stemmed from a contract dispute over the hiring of a drill rig to be used in disputed waters off the coast of West African claimed by Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.

Tullow attempted escaping liability by arguing force majeure, but to no avail.

“Force majeure is a creature of contract,” Bracewell’s international disputes team wrote in a brief quoted by GAR. “As with any other contractual provision, whether a party is able to rely on the force majeure clause (and so be released from its obligations) is a question of contractual construction and application of the factual evidence.”

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