CASTRIES, St. Lucia — The St. Lucia government says it has won the latest round of ongoing arbitration with the U.S.-based oil and gas exploration and production company, RSM Production Corporation.
A statement yesterday from the office of Prime Minister Kenny Anthony indicated that on Aug. 13 the Arbitral Tribunal ordered RSM to post a guarantee of US$750,000 to ensure that it will pay St. Lucia’s legal costs if it is ordered to do so at the end of the case.
“This is St. Lucia’s second major success following the tribunal’s order on Dec. 12, 2013, for RSM to pay all of the advances towards the administrative costs of the arbitration, which in all previous known cases have been paid 50 percent by each party.
“Both of these orders are the first of their kinds in the history of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), which is administering the arbitration. The three arbitrators are independent of ICSID, but are deciding the case under the ICSID arbitration rules, which are designed for disputes between host states and foreign investors. The government is pleased to have achieved these unique successes,” the statement from the Office of the Prime Minister added.
The Colorado-based RSM Production Corporation, owned by U.S.-based oil magnate, Jack Grynberg, had initiated the arbitration for breach of a multimillion dollar contract.
The company took the action against the St. Lucia Government over an exploration license that it was granted several years ago to undertake exploration for oil over a specified area of water off the coast of St Lucia.
The main opposition United Workers Party claimed that the government had announced in May 2012 that Grynberg had filed a US$500 million claim against St. Lucia.
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