PanAfrican Energy Tanzania Limited v. United Republic of Tanzania and Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation

At a glance

Parties

PanAfrican Energy Tanzania Limited v. United Republic of Tanzania and Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC)

Case no.

ICSID Case No. ARB/25/43

Forum and rules

ICSID Convention arbitration; ICSID Arbitration Rules in force as of 1 July 2022. Hearings in London; no legal seat.

Treaty

Contract: Clause 15.4(c) of the Gas Agreement and Clause 27.4(c) of the Production Sharing Agreement

Tribunal

Ms. Niuscha Bassiri (President), Mr. Cavinder Bull SC, Prof. Dr. Mohamed S. Abdel Wahab

Sector

Oil and gas; exploration and production of natural gas

Outcome

Pending. The only published document is Procedural Order No. 1 (8 June 2026), which sets the procedural rules.

Amount

No amounts claimed are stated. ICSID requested advances of USD 200,000, USD 100,000 from each side.

The dispute

PanAfrican Energy Tanzania Limited brought contract claims against the United Republic of Tanzania and Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) under a Gas Agreement and a Production Sharing Agreement. Its Requests for Arbitration were filed under both agreements. The only published document is Procedural Order No. 1, which does not describe the facts, the claims or the defences. It shows that a related case, ICSID Case No. ARB/25/42, is running in parallel, with each party having appointed the same co-arbitrator in both cases.

Key holdings

1. The ICSID Arbitration Rules in force as of 1 July 2022 govern the proceeding. The Tribunal was constituted on 11 February 2026, and the Parties confirmed they had no objection to any member. PO1 §§1.1, 2.1
2. Each party appointed the same co-arbitrator in this case and in ICSID Case No. ARB/25/42. The Parties agreed that this raises no issue of independence or impartiality, and that they will not challenge an arbitrator on that ground alone. PO1 §2.4
3. The Claimant invoked the contract clauses allowing arbitration outside Tanzania, so the proceeding will be held in London. Under those clauses the party requiring this pays the travel and related costs of all Parties. The Parties disagree on how those costs are to be handled, and the Tribunal deferred the issue to a separate procedural order. London is the hearing location only; there is no legal seat with supervisory jurisdiction. PO1 §§11.1–11.3
4. The Parties may rely on documents from ICSID Case No. ARB/25/42 without leave, including witness statements, expert reports, exhibits and written submissions. Neither Party may object to them solely because they come from that case. PO1 §17.2
5. If the Respondents request bifurcation, the Tribunal will set a briefing schedule. All other deadlines stay in effect while the request is pending. PO1 §15.3
6. Ms. Emily Hay of ArbBoutique was appointed assistant to the President with the Parties' consent, at USD 200.00 per hour. The Tribunal may not delegate any decision-making to her. PO1 §8
7. The ICSID transparency rules (Arbitration Rules 62–65) apply. The Tribunal will not use artificial intelligence to draft the reasoning of its rulings, and parties using AI tools must verify their output and keep inputted information confidential. PO1 §§25.1, 29

Procedural history

1. 4 September 2025After the Request for Arbitration was registered, ICSID requested a first advance of USD 100,000 from the Claimant, which paid on 10 September 2025.
2. 11 February 2026Tribunal constituted. Arbitrators' acceptances followed on 23 December 2025 and 11 February 2026.
3. 4 March 2026Draft Procedural Order No. 1 circulated, and the President proposed appointing an assistant.
4. 7 May 2026First session held by video conference.
5. 8 June 2026Procedural Order No. 1 issued.
6. 15 June 2026Procedural timetable (Annex B) amended by agreement of the Parties.

Tribunal, counsel and experts

Decided by

• Niuscha Bassiri President
• Cavinder Bull Co-arbitrator
• Mohamed S. Abdel Wahab Co-arbitrator

For the claimant

Boies Schiller Flexner LLP

For the respondent

Attorney General of the United Republic of Tanzania · Office of the Solicitor General · Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation

Run a conflict check on these names →

Keywords

• Procedural Order No. 1
• oil and gas
• natural gas
• Production Sharing Agreement
• Gas Agreement
• contract claims
• TPDC
• Tanzania
• ICSID Arbitration Rules 2022
• parallel proceedings
• ICSID Case No. ARB/25/42
• place of proceeding London
• travel costs
• bifurcation
• document production
• assistant to the tribunal
• artificial intelligence
• transparency

Summary generated with AI from the published documents — refer to the award for the authoritative text.