Petrotrin is claiming a significant victory at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Court of Arbitration in a battle against Fluor Daniel, South America Limited (Fluor), to the tune of approximately US$10 million. In a statement yesterday, Petrotrin said that Fluor was the Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) Contractor for the design and construction of the Isomerisation Complex at the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery, but failed to deliver on the agreed contract in the following areas:
• Mechanical completion of the plant was delayed by over one year
• Petrotrin had to undertake major corrections and expensive rework on some construction works executed by Fluor
• There were also a number of HSE violations and non-conformances in the execution of the project.
Petrotrin therefore claimed for damages under a Performance Guarantee. In a counter measure, Fluor filed for arbitration amounting to US$22.35 million. This claim was brought before the ICC and reviewed by a tribunal of eminent jurists. According to Petrotrin, Fluor's claim for US$22.35 million against the state-owned company was dismissed by the International Court of Arbitration, which awarded the engineering company only nine days of compensable delay and a limited number of variation claims where Petrotrin largely admitted liability amounting to US$158,192.
All its other claims were dismissed in their entirety, according to Petrotrin. Petrotrin's call on the guarantee, on the other hand, was increased by the Tribunal from US 6, 328,760 to US$6,809,241. When additional costs were awarded by the Court, Petrotrin benefited from an overall award of approximately US$10 million.
The tribunal's award of approximately US$10 million to Petrotrin represented damages and 95 per cent of costs claimed by Petrotrin. Petrotrin said that it wanted to assure the national community that it will continue to exercise our stewardship over the nation's hydrocarbon resources in the best interest of the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.
