English Court Of Appeal decision Confirms The Ability Of Courts To Enforce Part Of An International Arbitration Award

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In a decision confirming a flexible and pragmatic approach to

the enforcement of international arbitration awards, the Court of

Appeal has ruled that the English courts have the power to enforce

parts of international arbitration awards under the New York

Convention and the English Arbitration Act 1996.

In Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation v IPCO (Nigeria)

Limited1 the English Court of Appeal said that,

since the purpose of the New York Convention is to "ensure

the effective and speedy enforcement of international arbitration

awards", arbitration awards could be enforced in

part.

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation ("NNPC"), the

state oil company of Nigeria, and IPCO (Nigeria) Limited

("IPCO"), a Nigerian subsidiary of a Hong Kong registered

company, were in dispute regarding a contract to design and

construct a petroleum export terminal. IPCO claimed that NNPC made

substantial variations to the agreed scope of works, causing delays

to the project. The resulting claims were referred to arbitration

in Lagos under the provisions of the contract, and IPCO were

ultimately awarded USD 152million on its claims.

While proceedings before the Nigerian Federal High Court to set

aside the award were outstanding, IPCO applied for enforcement in

England. The English High Court gave judgment for the enforcement

of the award in respect of two of IPCO's six heads of

claim.

NNPC appealed the decision, arguing that the Court had no

jurisdiction to enforce part of the award, and that the Court must

wait until the Nigerian proceedings had been determined before

considering enforcement.

Considering Articles III, V and VI of the New York Convention

and the related provisions of the Arbitration Act 1996,2

the Court held that "award" means "the

award or part of it". An all or nothing approach to the

enforcement of arbitration awards was rejected as being

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