Tänkvärt inför avgörandet

Tiden är snart inne då aktieägarna får klarhet i huruvida det blir en snabb lösning till APCLs fördel (enda möjligheten till en snabb lösning är ju att Gambia och APCL kommer överens om en förlängning eller att APCL går in i nästa fas av licenserna) eller om den juridiska processen initieras.

Även om APCL initierar en juridisk process betyder inte det att vi står inför en uttdragen process. Detta är inte min egen tolkning utan det baseras på fakta, bland annat med referens till den förra liknande juridiska dispyten gällande samma licenser i just Gambia (https://www.clydeco.com/firm/news/view/clyde-co-advises-african-petroleum-in-successful-outcome-to-icsid-proceedin)

Vi vet också att en eventuell juridisk process kommer att hanteras av the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Gambia har ratificerat den bindande konventionen. Således kommer rättsprocessen att hanteras av ICSID och följa the ICSID arbitral rules. Gambia har tidigare varit involverade i ett flertal dispyter gällande bland annat oljeutvinning och inom mining, varav en dispyt alltså var mot just APCL och samma licenser som är föremål för eventuell dispyt just nu. Utgången av den förra dispyten med APCL refererar jag till ovan.

https://icsid.worldbank.org/en/Documents/icsiddocs/List%20of%20Contracting%20States%20and%20Other%20Signatories%20of%20the%20Convention%20-%20Latest.pdf

Jag avslutar med att återge African Petroleums pressrelease från den 21 augusti 2017.

The Company confirms that it is yet to receive any formal feedback from the Gambian authorities regarding the status of its A1 and A4 licences.

The management notes the rhetoric in recent local press articles that state the licences have expired and are open acreage. As such, the management feels it appropriate to firmly reiterate, once again, that this is misleading and incorrect in both law and fact. African Petroleum has not received formal notification initiating the termination process as detailed in the licences, and therefore retains it’s rights under the A1 and A4 licences.

Whilst the management continues to seek a positive dialogue in the coming weeks, it is currently undertaking the necessary legal preparations to utilise the dispute resolution provisions of the licences in order to protect African Petroleum’s legal rights in relation to the licences and will formally initiate this process in early September unless formal positive feedback is forthcoming by the end of August.

Commenting on the update, CEO Jens Pace said: “It is clearly frustrating to be in a position where we feel it necessary to issue updates to the market on account of unconfirmed local media reports. We were given guidance by the President of The Gambia that formal feedback would be provided to the Company following cabinet level discussions and so we remain hopeful that this will be forthcoming. I reassure our shareholders that we, after taking external legal advice, are very confident of our legal position in terms of these licences. We are therefore taking the appropriate measures to ensure we move swiftly to protect our rights on these licences should we not receive formal feedback by the end of the month, or should that feedback not be in line with our expectations.”

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments