SHELL EGYPT WEST MANZALA GMBH V DANA GAS EGYPT LTD

[2009] EWHC 2097 (Comm), Queen's Bench Division, Commercial Court, Mrs Justice Gloster, 7 August 2009

Arbitration - Error of law - Application for permission to appeal - Arbitration agreement stating that award was to be "final, conclusive and binding" - Whether parties had excluded right of appeal - Arbitration Act 1996, section 69

By a Cooperation Agreement (the FIA) dated 17 March 2006 between Shell and Centurion (Dana's predecessor in title) Shell was to acquire a 50 per cent interest in two concessions for the crude oil and gas exploration in the Nile Delta. The FIA contained an arbitration clause which stated: "The dispute shall be submitted to the arbitrators in such manner as they shall deem appropriate and the decision of the majority of the arbitrators, rendered in writing, shall be final, conclusive and binding on the parties, and the judgment upon such decision may be entered in any court of a country having jurisdiction". The arbitrators issued an award which held that Shell was not entitled to damages following the early termination of the FIA. Shell sought permission to appeal under section 69 of the Arbitration Act 1996, section 69. Gloster J held that the words "final, conclusive and binding" did not amount to an exclusion agreement and that the right to appeal had not been ousted. She further held that, on the facts, the statutory criteria for giving permission to appeal had been satisfied.