Yukos case: background and the main themes.

Kotelnikov, Andrey

Abstract

Arbitral awards in investor-state disputes are often so extensively commented upon that, for those who take an interest in the area, it can become hard to say which is more voluminous - the actual case record or it's academic and media coverage. Such attention is understandable; the subject of investment arbitration is fascinating, and cases like Yukos only reinforce this point. After ten years which the parties spent arguing in front of various courts and tribunals, the three final awards of 18 July 2014 awarded Yukos's former majority shareholders an all-time record amount in compensation for investment arbitration - more than {dollar}50 billion (to put this number in perspective, this is roughly equivalent to 13% of Russia's federal budget revenue for 2014 ). The Yukos affair is also intricately interwoven with Russian politics and modern Russian history, which makes it even more interesting at times like the present, when Russia frequently makes headlines in international news. This paper, without an ambition of providing a comprehensive account, aims to give the reader a brief summary of the facts, to outline the history of legal proceedings, and to point out some of the recurring themes surrounding the discussions of Yukos case.

Citation

KOTELNIKOV, A. 2015. Yukos case: background and the main themes. Presented at the 2015 Energy arbitration conference: challenged and opportunities for the next decade: lessons from recent awards, 29 October 2015, Edinburgh, UK.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: 2015 Energy arbitration conference: challenged and opportunities for the next decade: lessons from recent awards
• Conference Location: Edinburgh, UK
• Start Date: Oct 29, 2015
• Deposit Date: Sep 12, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 12, 2016
• Keywords: Arbitration; Investment treaty; Energy charter treaty; Yukos; UNCITRAL; ECHR
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/1653