Victoria Oil & Gas plc (VOG)’s shares were yesterday suspended after an arbitral tribunal of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) ruled against the company’s subsidiary Gaz du Cameroon, making an award of US$12.1 million.
NO DELAYS
The dispute between GDC and RSM Production Corporation relates to previous work in Cameroon.
The company said that arbitration rules stated that there should be no appeals against the award or delays in payment.
Shares were suspended pending a resolution.
VOG added that GDC would continue producing and selling natural gas and condensate in the port city of Doula in Cameroon.
LEGACY ISSUE
VOG chief executive Roger Kennedy added that the tribunal’s findings were disappointing but that the company would deal with the consequences and move forward.
“I find this doubly frustrating as the current management (appointed by me in 2020) inherited this 2018 arbitration and they have been working flat out to deal head-on and decisively with all the issues they had inherited, and they had also found time to cultivate a hopper of exciting business development opportunities.
“Moreover, the current management made huge strides towards improving the relationship with RSM, as illustrated by the September 2021 and January 2022 settlements (settling the UNCITRAL arbitration pre-hearing, and non-monetary claims in the ICC arbitration respectively).
“The board thus has confidence in the management to navigate through this legacy issue and return the company to a healthier footing.”