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Rockhopper v Italy (ICSID)

Why it matters

Rockhopper Italia S.p.A., Rockhopper Mediterranean Ltd, and Rockhopper Exploration Plc v. Italian Republic, an investment-treaty arbitration administered by ICSID (case no. ARB/17/14), in which a foreign investor brought claims against a state under an investment treaty. In the outcome, the tribunal rendered its award. For a student, it is a worked example of investor-state dispute settlement: how an ICSID tribunal weighs a state's right to regulate against the treaty protections owed to foreign investors.

Summary

Rockhopper Italia S.p.A., Rockhopper Mediterranean Ltd, and Rockhopper Exploration Plc v. Italian Republic: an ICSID award (ARB/17/14). In the outcome, the tribunal rendered its award. The tribunal's full reasoning is set out in the original.

The detail

Parties: Rockhopper Italia S.p.A., Rockhopper Mediterranean Ltd, and Rockhopper Exploration Plc v. Italian Republic

Case number: ICSID Case No. ARB/17/14

Outcome: Italy liable for unlawful expropriation after banning the Ombrina Mare offshore oil project; about EUR 190m plus interest awarded. Italy pursued annulment.

Quantum: About EUR 190m plus interest

Applicable law: Energy Charter Treaty; Italian hydrocarbons law; ICSID Convention.

Issues in play: A state's environmental choice to ban coastal drilling against an investor that had done everything required for its production concession, plus the intra-EU objection again, which this ICSID tribunal rejected.

Read the full decision at italaw ↗

Locus Standi links to the source decision and publishes its own plain-language summary. It does not reproduce the text of the award.

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