PSO wins arbitration, awarded $14.6 million

Gunvor filed case after PSO reduced payments due to overcharged shipments

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has won an arbitration case against global Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) trader Gunvor Group Limited for receiving excess payments for natural gas shipments.

The London Court of International Arbitration gave a verdict in favour of PSO which had reduced payments to Gunvor due to overcharged shipments.

PSO was awarded $14.6 million, as well as other costs as per the contract on October 8, 2022, for the case initiated by Gunvor in January 2021.

According to details, PSO continued making excess payments to Gunvor on account of port charges for four and half years. Later, it was pointed out by the Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) management that Gunvor was receiving excess payments from the state-owned oil company.

Subsequently, a legal opinion was sought from an international firm that had assisted the Pakistani firms in finalising the LNG supplies agreement with Gunvor.

Promptly after the availability of the final port charges, PLL notified Gunvor on November 9, 2018, of its concerns regarding the calculations applied by the international commodity trading company in the provisional invoices.

PLL had reached out to Gunvor again, on August 10, 2020, intending to resolve the issue.

After PLL management had identified the excess payments received by Gunvor, PSO deducted the excess amount. Consequently, Gunvor filed a case against PSO in an international court.

PSO had a supply contract for five years with Gunvor that expired in December 2020. PLL has also a five-year agreement with Gunvor for LNG supply that expired in December 2021.

PSO officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2022.

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