PAO Tatneft v Ukraine United States District Court for the District of Columbia Civil Action No 2017-0582 Memorandum Opinion by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly - 24 August 2020
Country
Year
2020
Summary
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Pending before this Court is Petitioner Pao Tatneft's [1] Petition to Confirm Arbitral Award and to Enter Judgment in Favor of Petitioner.(1) Pao Tatneft, formerly known as OAO Tatneft, brings this action to enforce a 2014 foreign arbitral award entered in favor of Petitioner Pao Tatneft and against Respondent Ukraine by the International Arbitral Tribunal in OAO Tatneft v. Ukraine, an arbitration seated in Paris, France and conducted pursuant to the Rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law ("UNCITRAL"). Pao Tatneft was awarded $112 million plus interest accruing at the U.S. dollar LIBOR rate plus 3%, compounded every three months, with further instructions about accrual of interest. See Merits Award (also referred to as the "Final Award") , attached as Ex. A to Declaration of Jonathan Blackman, ECF No. 1-3.2 For the reasons set forth herein, the Court GRANTS Pao Tatneft's [1] Petition to Confirm Arbitral Award, and requests that the Petitioner file a proposed order of judgment reflecting the amount of the constituent parts of the award, along with a brief summary of the interest calculations, and Respondent have the opportunity to respond thereto.
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IV. CONCLUSION
The Court must confirm the Merits Award unless it finds that Respondent has established one of the grounds for refusal specified in the New York Convention. See 9 U.S.C. § 7. Having rejected Ukraine's arguments under the New York Convention, Articles V(1)(d) and V(2)(b), this Court will accordingly confirm the Merits Award. This leaves open however the question of how much to award. In its Petition, ECF No. 1, at 7 ¶¶ 17-18, Pao Tatneft indicates that the Award to be paid by Ukraine is in the amount of US$112 million, and the Award provides further that Ukraine must pay interest on this amount at the U.S. dollar LIBOR rate plus 3% compounded every three months, accruing until the date of payment. Furthermore, the Award states that the interest on $68.44 million (of the total $112 million) would begin accruing on May 12, 2009, while the interest on the other $43.56 million would begin accruing on January 27, 2020, though accrual of interest was suspended for sixty days after the issuance of the Award. Id. Accordingly, by September 21, 2020, Petitioner shall file a proposed order of judgment reflecting the exact monetary amount of its constituent parts of the Final Award, along with a brief summary of its calculations of interest. Ukraine may respond to the form of the proposed order and associated calculations by no later than October 12, 2020, and Pao Tatneft's reply, if any, is due by October 26, 2020. A separate Order accompanies this Memorandum Opinion.
(1). In connection with this Memorandum Opinion, the Court considered Petitioner's [1] Petition to Confirm Arbitral Award and to Enter Judgment in Favor of Petitioner ("Pao Tatneft Pet."), and exhibits attached thereto, including but not limited to the Merits Award, which is filed at ECF No. 1-4 through 1-7; Respondent's [22] Opposition to Petitioner's Petition to Confirm Arbitral Award (Ukraine Opp'n."); Petitioner's [35] Reply in Further Support of Petition to Confirm Arbitral Award and to Enter Judgment in Favor of Petitioner ("Pao Tatneft Reply"); the Jurisdiction Decision, attached as Ex. A to the Supplemental Declaration of Jonathan Blackman, ECF No. 27-3; and the record in this case. In an exercise of its discretion, the Court finds that holding oral argument in this action would not be of assistance in rendering a decision. See LCvR 7(f).