CL-2022-000456 - [2025] EWHC 1938 (Comm)

On 11 and 24 May 2022 (respectively), each of Tecnimont and MT Russia notified EuroChem NW2 that it was suspending its services under the Contracts.

On 4 August 2022, EuroChem NW2 wrote to Tecnimont and MT Russia, terminating the Contracts and asserting that they were in default under the Contracts.

The issues between EuroChem NW2 and Tecnimont have been referred to arbitration and do not fall to be determined by me. However, I have been told that one of the issues that the arbitrators will decide is whether the performance of the Contracts was affected by Regulation 833; no doubt because Tecnimont relies on Regulation 833 and will contend that the effect of Regulation 833 was to relieve Tecnimont of the obligation to provide services under the Contracts, such that Tecnimont was not in default.

This is relevant because, as noted, one of the arguments raised by the Banks relates to Regulation 833. Very sensibly, the parties agreed that I should proceed on the assumed basis (without prejudice to any findings that may subsequently be made in the arbitration) that the underlying construction Contracts are or include a “contract or transaction the performance of which has been affected, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, by the measures imposed under Regulation 833.”