Originally from World Arbitration And Mediation Review (WAMR)

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ACT I – THE MERITS HEARING:

ASSEMBLING YOUR CASE AND EVIDENCE

INTRODUCTION TO THE WORKSHOP AND ACT I
Prof. Guido Tawil, Workshop Co-Chair

Thank you, Lucy. Good morning, everyone. Welcome in the
name of Wendy Miles, Mike Goldberg, and myself, as co-chairs of
this year’s ITA Workshop for the 22nd workshop called The Merits
Hearing: Getting the Message to the Tribunal. This year’s workshop
is the second of a three-year saga that started last year and will end
with the final part of the hearing and deliberation next year.

Our mock scenario, as you probably know, is related to three
acts, each of which takes place at a different point of the pleading
of an international commercial arbitration. From the beginning of
the exchange of documents and written testimony, evidence, and
arguing, through the substantive hearing. We are going to actually
end with the opening statement of the hearing in the afternoon in
Act III that Mike will be chairing.

Let us speak a little bit about the background of the case.
Following discovery of significant oil and natural gas resources,
the Republic of Torvia, through its Ministry of Energy and the
national oil company Torvia National Petroleum, entered into a
production sharing agreement (PSA) with TorGas. TorGas is a
locally incorporated entity established as a subsidiary of the
Francophonian Oil Company, Qualité de l’Essence, S.A., under the
PSA. TorGas is responsible for the oil exploration and production
activities, and bears a material and financial risk associated with
this initiative. The dispute resolution agreement in the PSA, that
is not the contract that we will be discussing today at the
arbitration, establishes that all disputes will be finally settled
under the Rules of Arbitration of the ICC.

Subsequent to the negotiation and execution of the PSA,
TorGas entered into a Turnkey Drilling Contract with Drill-BD.
Drill-BD, as we will see, is a leader in the development of
innovative rig and drilling technology, as well as technology to
hold down costs associated with drilling operations. The dispute
resolution agreement in the Turnkey Contract provides that any
dispute will be resolved under the LCIA Rules by arbitrators