Halliburton Co v Chubb Bermuda Insurance Ltd – Supreme Court (Lord Reed PSC, Lord Hodge DPSC, Lady Black, Lord Lloyd-Jones and Lady Arden JJSC) [2020] UKSC 48 – 27 November 2020

Arbitration – Removal of arbitrator – Apparent bias – Whether arbitrator should have disclosed later appointments in arbitrations involving one common party – Test for apparent bias – Time for application of test – Arbitrator omitting to give relevant disclosure as result of oversight – Arbitrator subsequently providing explanation for omission – Whether arbitrator should be removed

BP Exploration and Production Inc (BP) was the lessee of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico (the rig). Transocean Holdings LLC (Transocean) owned the rig and had contracted with BP to provide crew and drilling teams. Halliburton provided cementing and well-monitoring services to BP.