Yukos Shareholders v. Russia

In 2014, a tribunal of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague awarded Hulley Enterprises, Yukos Universal, and Veteran Petroleum, the former majority shareholders of Yukos, a total of $50.02B in connection with the expropriation of oil companies in Russia. On February 20, 2024, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal rejected Russia’s last application to set aside the award, including its allegation that the shareholders had committed fraud, and upheld the award. On November 17, 2023, Judge Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied Russia’s motion to dismiss under the U.S. Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) and the 1958 New York Convention, clearing the way for enforcement of the award in the United States. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated the lower court’s decision and remanded the case on whether the FSIA exception to jurisdictional immunity for actions to enforce arbitral awards applies to the PCA tribunal’s award.

The largest arbitral award by amount in history. The Amsterdam Court of Appeal’s judgment deprived Russia of any further means of challenging the award in the Dutch courts. Even so, the U.S. proceedings have shown that the claimants still face difficulties in enforcing the award against a sovereign state.