WANA (Oct 06) – In a new ruling, the UK Court of Appeal has ordered the seizure of a London property owned by the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) in connection with the long-running Crescent Gas dispute.

 

The decision follows a lawsuit filed by Crescent Gas, which claimed that NIOC transferred the London-based property, known as the “NIOC House,” to the Oil Industry Pension and Welfare Fund after an international arbitration ruling was issued in favor of the company.

 

A lower UK court had previously deemed the transfer invalid, citing Section 423 of the Insolvency Act, describing it as a “transaction at undervalue intended to prevent debt recovery.” NIOC and the pension fund appealed this decision, but the Court of Appeal rejected their arguments and upheld the previous ruling.

 

Judges stated that the documentation presented regarding the pension fund’s ownership did not meet the necessary legal conditions and therefore would not prevent the property from being seized to satisfy the arbitration award. Under the ruling, the property will be placed under the control of the UK judiciary to partially compensate Crescent Gas for the damages determined in the arbitration.

 

According to an informed source, lawyers representing the Islamic Republic of Iran have objected to the recent ruling by the UK Court of Appeal regarding the transfer and possible enforcement of the order to confiscate the National Iranian Oil Company’s building in London in favor of the Emirati company “Crescent.”

 

The Crescent case traces back to a 2001 gas contract between NIOC and Crescent Group. Disputes over the contract’s non-performance eventually led to international arbitration, resulting in a ruling in favor of the Emirati company.

 

The recent Court of Appeal decision marks the latest development in a dispute that has spanned more than two decades, involving NIOC and its Emirati counterpart in both courts and international arbitration forums.

Crescent