PanAfrican Energy Corporation v. United Republic of Tanzania

At a glance

Parties

PanAfrican Energy Corporation v. United Republic of Tanzania

Case no.

ICSID Case No. ARB/25/42

Forum and rules

ICSID Convention arbitration; ICSID Arbitration Rules in force as of 1 July 2022; place of proceeding London, England

Treaty

Mauritius–Tanzania BIT 2009 (as listed in the ICSID case database description)

Tribunal

Prof. Andrea Bjorklund (President), Mr. Cavinder Bull SC, Prof. Dr. Mohamed S. Abdel Wahab

Sector

Oil and natural gas exploration and production

Outcome

Pending. The only published document is Procedural Order No. 1 (19 June 2026), which sets the procedural rules.

The dispute

PanAfrican Energy Corporation brought an ICSID claim against the United Republic of Tanzania. The case database describes the subject of the dispute as the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, and lists the Mauritius–Tanzania BIT of 2009 as the instrument invoked. The published document is procedural only and does not describe the measures complained of, the claims or the defences. Tanzania's delegation at the first session included officials of TPDC, TANESCO and TANOIL-TPDC. A parallel case, ICSID Case No. ARB/25/43, involves the same party-appointed co-arbitrators.

Key holdings

1. The Tribunal was constituted on 13 February 2026. The Parties confirmed that it was properly constituted and that they had no objection to any Member. PO1 § 2.1
2. The Parties accepted that each Party's appointment of identical co-arbitrators in this case and in ICSID Case No. ARB/25/43 raises no issue of independence or impartiality. They agreed not to challenge an arbitrator on that ground alone. PO1 § 2.4
3. The place of the proceeding is London, England, and English is the procedural language. The Parties pay advances in equal parts; ICSID initially requested USD 200,000, of which each side paid USD 100,000. PO1 §§ 9.1–9.2, 10.1, 11.1
4. Document production is guided, but not bound, by Articles 3 and 9 of the IBA Rules 2020, through a Redfern-style schedule. The Tribunal may draw adverse inferences if a Party fails to produce documents it has ordered. PO1 §§ 15.1, 15.12
5. The Tribunal will not use artificial intelligence to draft the reasoning of its rulings. Parties using AI tools must verify the output and must not use them to mislead. The Tribunal may investigate the use of AI, including by appointing AI experts. PO1 §§ 28.1–28.3
6. Each Party may introduce in ICSID Case No. ARB/25/43 the pleadings, evidence and transcripts filed in this case. There is no agreement yet to coordinate the two cases. PO1 §§ 24.2, 29.1

Procedural history

1. 4 September 2025After the Request for Arbitration was registered, ICSID requested the first advance on costs.
2. 27 October 2025 – 13 February 2026The arbitrators accepted their appointments on 27 October 2025, 23 December 2025 and 13 February 2026.
3. 13 February 2026The Tribunal is constituted.
4. 27 February 2026ICSID letter records the Parties' agreement to extend the 60-day period for holding the first session.
5. 27 April 2026First session held by video conference.
6. 19 June 2026Procedural Order No. 1 issued, setting the procedural rules and timetable.

Tribunal, counsel and experts

Decided by

• Andrea K. Bjorklund President
• Cavinder Bull Co-arbitrator
• Mohamed S. Abdel Wahab Co-arbitrator

For the claimant

Boies Schiller Flexner LLP · PanAfrican Energy Corporation / PanAfrican Energy Tanzania Ltd (party representatives)

For the respondent

Office of the Solicitor General · Office of the Attorney General · TPDC · TANESCO · TANOIL-TPDC

Run a conflict check on these names →

Keywords

• Tanzania
• oil and gas
• natural gas
• exploration and production
• Mauritius–Tanzania BIT
• TPDC
• TANESCO
• procedural order
• parallel proceedings
• ICSID Case No. ARB/25/43
• identical co-arbitrators
• document production
• IBA Rules
• artificial intelligence
• ICSID Arbitration Rules 2022

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