BG Group has been given a £90million boost after the US Supreme Court upheld its efforts to reinstate an arbitration award against Argentina.
The gas giant had been in dispute with Argentine authorities over the country’s cap on natural gas prices in 2002, which the firm claimed had breached the 1993 treaty between Britain and Argentina.
BG Group had claimed the price freeze, coming soon after Argentina defaulted on sovereign debt of around $100billion, had reduced the value of its stake in Argentina’s Metrogas, which subsequently went bankrupt.
Originally the firm had won a ruling in its favour at the International Chamber of Commerce International Court of Arbitration in 2007, after Argentina had issued an emergency decree to restrict access to its courts.
The decision was upheld in a federal court in 2011, but was overturned on appeal in 2012 after judges said BG Group should have tried to sue in Argentina first, before waiting 18 months for a ruling as required by the previous treaty.
But today the highest US court overturned that ruling, voting 7-2 in favour of BG Group, paving the way for the firm to pursue its original award.
