Eran Azran
A lengthy dispute over compensation after Egyptian gas companies cut off the supply of natural gas to Israel six years ago is moving forward in Israel’s favor, thanks to a ruling that the Egyptians had violated their country’s trade treaty with Poland.
The Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration ruled that East Mediterranean Gas, the company that operated the pipeline that had been delivering the gas to Israel, should be awarded $1.033 billion plus interest.
If the award is paid out, that could enable the bondholders of Ampal-American – an Israeli holding company controlled by Yossi Maiman that owned 12.5% of EMG – to collect on the 800 million shekels ($225.8 million at current exchange rates) still owned them after Ampal went bankrupt after EMG’s supply of gas was ended.
The decision by the Cairo-based arbitrator came after the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, or UNCITRAL, ruled that the Egyptian Natural Gas and Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation had violated the terms of the Egyptian-Polish trade treaty’s clauses protecting investors.
