Case No. CL-2019-000290

[2012] 2 SLR 821. That case involved a principal agreement (an offshore drilling contract) which provided for arbitration, and an escrow agreement which provided for the jurisdiction of the Singapore High Court. Andrew Ang J rejected the contention that proceedings brought under the escrow agreement fell within the arbitration clause, so as to require the court to stay the proceedings under s.6 of the Singapore International Arbitration Act. He also referred to the different types of dispute which might arise under the principal contract and the escrow agreement, noting that the latter were likely to be “relatively straightforward and nontechnical in nature” and for that reason the parties were likely to have deliberately chosen a dispute resolution provision for the escrow agreement which could ensure more speedy relief (at [21]). 21.While those were both cases in which the court jurisdiction clause appeared in the security document, and the arbitration clause in the principal agreement setting out the parties’ primary obligations (as opposed to this case where the location of the two types of dispute resolution clause is reversed), they reflect the fact that the parties may frequently choose a different dispute resolution provision for an agreement which sets out the primary obligations of their relationships, and an agreement intended to operate by way of a security, without intending that the dispute resolution provision in the security agreement extend to disputes arising under the principal agreement.