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Arnold & Porter is a firm of more than 1,000 lawyers, providing sophisticated litigation and transactional capabilities, renowned regulatory experience and market-leading multidisciplinary practices in the life sciences and financial services industries. Our global reach, experience and deep knowledge allow us to work across geographic, cultural, technological and ideological borders.
Arnold & Porter secured a complete victory for NRCO Engineering, S.A. in an ICDR arbitration in Houston arising from a cross-border liquefied natural gas…
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Arnold & Porter secured a complete victory for NRCO
Engineering, S.A. in an ICDR arbitration in Houston arising from a
cross-border liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply venture in Eastern
Europe. NRCO is owned by Ovik Mkrtchyan, an engineer and
businessman from Uzbekistan who founded Gor Investment Limited, a
global enterprise focused on advancing sustainable, innovative
technologies. The tribunal found a Texas energy company and its
president liable for breach of contract and ordered them to pay all
damages, attorneys’ fees, and interest that NRCO
requested.
The dispute arose from an LNG project to supply natural gas to
Bulgaria. The underlying transaction involved multiple
energy-infrastructure components, including potential supply
strategies through Poland and Lithuania, equity participation in an
energy company, project development obligations, and a performance
security bond connected to a European gas pipeline. Following a
five-day final hearing, the tribunal awarded NRCO the complete
relief it sought. The tribunal also rejected the Respondents’
equitable and other defenses, finding that the president of the
Texas energy company had spread false and disparaging information
about Mr. Mkrtchyan that caused harm to him and his family in
Uzbekistan.
The arbitration team was led by litigation partner Ryan Hartman,
who is co-chair of the firm’s Energy and Infrastructure
group, with Sally Pei and Volodymyr Ponomarov, in close
collaboration with John Bellinger, who leads the firm’s
Global Law and Public Policy practice. The victory adds to Arnold
& Porter’s deep experience representing clients in
complex energy, infrastructure, and cross-border disputes.