Mayer Brown Secures Landmark Victory in Singapore Arbitration Jurisdiction Challenge Case

Mayer Brown recently obtained a landmark victory on behalf of Frontier Holdings Ltd (FHL), against Petroleum Exploration (Pvt) Ltd (PEL) in proceedings before the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC). Our team worked closely with local counsel to successfully overturn an ICC arbitral tribunal's ruling that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the dispute. This case is notable as it marks the first reported decision in Singapore where a negative jurisdictional ruling has been successfully challenged.

The case arose out of concession documents executed by the parties for the exploration of oil and gas in Pakistan. In the arbitration proceedings, the ICC arbitral tribunal ruled by a majority that it had no jurisdiction, on the basis that the concession documents provided for disputes between Foreign Working Interest Owners (FWIOs) such as FHL and Pakistan Working Interest Owners (PWIOs) such as PEL to be resolved by domestic arbitration in Pakistan, rather than international arbitration under the auspices of the ICC.

Following FHL's filing of a jurisdictional challenge in Singapore, the SICC agreed with FHL that the arbitral tribunal had erred in its interpretation of the concession documents. The SICC found that on a proper construction of the concession documents, the parties had intended for FWIO-PWIO disputes to be resolved by international arbitration outside of Pakistan. Consequently, the SICC set aside the arbitral tribunal's jurisdictional ruling, and ordered the arbitral tribunal to continue with the arbitration. The full judgment of the SICC may be found here.

The Mayer Brown team was led by partners Yu-Jin Tay and Kay-Jannes Wegner and included associate Lai Yan. Further support was provided by Colin Liew of Duxton Hill Chambers, who represented FHL in the SICC proceedings.  This victory is important to our clients because it vindicates their jurisdictional arguments before the underlying arbitral tribunal, affirms their rights to neutral, international arbitration in Singapore under the auspices of the ICC and paves the way for them to continue their arbitration on the merits in Singapore.