HASHWANI AND OTHERS V OMV MAURICE ENERGY LTD

[2015] EWHC 1811 (Comm), Queen's Bench Division, Commercial Court, Mr Justice Burton, 24 June 2015

Arbitration - Jurisdiction - Dispute as to scope of arbitration clause - Arbitration Act 1996, sections 9 and 72

The disputes in the present case involved three parties, OPL, OMV and ZPCL, and three different agreements with different dispute resolution provisions. In November 2014 OMV commenced arbitration in London against OPL and ZPCL. In the present proceedings OPL and ZPCL sought relief under section 72 of the Arbitration Act 1996, whereby a person alleged to be a party to arbitration proceedings may seek declaratory, injunctive or other appropriate relief from the court providing that he has taken no part in the arbitration proceedings. For its part OMV sought a stay of the judicial proceedings under section 9 of the Arbitration Act 1996 so that the question of jurisdiction could be resolved by the arbitrators. Burton J held that it was certain that disputes between OMV and OPL were subject to the arbitration clauses and that the ICC had jurisdiction. Burton J was not certain, however, whether the arbitrators had jurisdiction over a dispute involving ZPCL, and stayed its proceedings so that the jurisdictional question could be determined by the arbitrators.