Corporate, M&A, Finance

Compensation and Settlement in ICC Arbitration

September 28, 2025 6 min read by Tahmidur Remura Wahid

TRW Secures Compensation and Settlement in ICC Arbitration Over Omani Refinery Subcontract

Prepared by Tahmidur Remura Wahid (TRW) Law Firm — Dhaka • Dubai • London

Executive summary

TRW successfully resolved an ICC arbitration arising from a piping works subcontract on a large-scale refinery project in Oman. The arbitration was seated in London under English law. After nearly two years of unsuccessful negotiations between the parties, our client commenced arbitration to break a persistent deadlock concerning unpaid invoices, retention, access and logistics delays, and an alleged unilateral scope and price reduction imposed by the respondent.

Outcome: a favourable settlement was reached before the final award. The parties executed a binding settlement agreement, the arbitration was suspended, and it was withdrawn only after full compliance with settlement terms. Our client recovered a substantial portion of its claims and obtained closure without the additional time and cost of a merits hearing.

For similar mandates, learn more about our work: International Arbitration and Construction Arbitration. If you have an active dispute tied to work access, delay, or retention on a GCC project, contact us: Contact TRW.

The dispute at a glance

Project: EPC-scale energy/refinery facility in Oman
Subcontract: Piping works, executed in late 2020
Governing law: English law
Seat: London, United Kingdom
Institution & Rules: ICC Arbitration
Core issues:

Unpaid invoices despite completion and proper submission
Retention release post-completion and after expiry of the defects liability period
Delay and disruption from deficient work fronts, inconsistent access, late materials, and coordination failures
Unilateral scope and price reduction alleged to be imposed under economic duress

Why arbitration became essential

Over twelve separate meetings, the parties attempted to negotiate payment and close out variations and delay costs. The impasse persisted for two reasons:

Pricing and documentation disputes over quantum and entitlement;
Stakeholder gridlock within the main contractor’s project and commercial teams.

Filing the Request for Arbitration created concrete procedural milestones, disclosure obligations, and cost consequences, which recalibrated incentives. Facing the prospect of a reasoned award enforceable across borders, the respondent engaged in serious settlement dialogue and meaningful document exchange. This is a common inflection point in complex construction disputes: formal process unlocks practical resolution.

TRW’s strategy

1) Front-loading entitlement and quantum

We assembled a concise, evidence-driven case theory that aligned contractual entitlement with project records:

Unpaid invoices & retention: Clear showings of contractual milestones, completion records, and defect liability period expiry.
Delay/disruption: A measured-mile analysis supplemented by a windows-based review, tying lost productivity and idle time to late access, materials shortages, and logistics bottlenecks attributable to the respondent.
Scope & price reduction: Establishing the absence of valid variation orders, contemporaneous objections to unilateral changes, and the commercial pressure indicators consistent with economic duress (e.g., threat to withhold critical approvals or cash flow).

2) Process architecture that compressed timelines

Early procedural conference proposals (document schedules, targeted disclosure, and issue sequencing) to keep the case tight and reduce hearing days.
Cost and time discipline—requesting efficient timetabling and resisting overbroad fishing expeditions.
Settlement windowing—we designed procedural “off-ramps” (without prejudice exchanges, neutral quantum sessions) at natural milestones.

3) Settlement leverage without brinkmanship

We balanced firm litigation posture with solution-focused negotiation, modelling cash-flow staging, retention release mechanics, and variation close-outs that the respondent could implement internally without face-loss.

Resolution and result

The parties signed a comprehensive settlement agreement addressing principal sums, retention, and a structured payment schedule.
The arbitration was suspended to oversee compliance and then withdrawn once the respondent completed all payments.
Our client avoided the uncertainty and cost of a full merits hearing and secured timely recovery.

For guidance on building settlement architecture into arbitration strategy, see International Arbitration.

Legal issues—how they were framed

Unpaid invoices and retention

Under English law and the subcontract terms, we demonstrated that payment milestones and retention release triggers had been satisfied. We reconciled site diaries, inspection and test records, NCR close-outs, and completion certificates to a clear payment narrative.

Delay and disruption

We linked causation to the main contractor’s obligations: continuous work fronts, timely material supply, and practical logistics coordination. Our measured-mile and windows analyses, supported by crew timesheets and look-ahead plans, quantified idle resources and extended preliminaries attributable to respondent-controlled risks.

Unilateral scope/price reduction and economic duress

We documented that scope reductions lacked contractual authority and that price changes were pursued through leverage rather than valid variation procedures. The evidence timeline showed our client’s contemporaneous protest, reservation of rights, and lack of genuine freedom to contract, aligning with the economic duress contours recognised by English law.

Practical lessons for EPC and specialist subcontractors

Access risk is a hard cost—capture it contemporaneously. Keep disciplined front-availability logs, site entry denials, and permit delays.
Treat materials as the critical path you don’t control. Track RFIs, material approvals, and delivery slips with timestamps; connect them to crew idle time.
Retention is evidence-driven. Organise your punch lists, snagging close-outs, and DLP correspondence so that release becomes a matter of arithmetic, not argument.
Variation governance matters. Insist on written VO instructions or contemporaneous notices; avoid accreting changes that later appear voluntary.
Economic duress is about context. Record threats to cash flow, certificates, or access that force “agreements” at the edge of coercion—this shapes both liability and settlement dynamics.
Arbitration can be a settlement engine. Procedural calendars create decision gates. Use them to schedule without-prejudice exchanges when disclosure has matured but before sunk costs harden positions.

For a playbook tailored to your live GCC project, visit Construction Arbitration.

Why the client chose TRW

Construction DNA. We combine forensic scheduling and quantum discipline with pragmatic advocacy tailored to EPC realities.
Multi-hub leverage. Our Dhaka • Dubai • London platform aligns seat strategy, banking rails, and enforcement routes from the outset.
Outcome-oriented economics. Phased budgets focused on the inflection points that move cases—not billable-hour rituals.

Explore our approach: International Arbitration and Contact TRW.

In-house checklist (save this)

[ ] Contract administration: Variation logs, access denials, material delivery records, and DLP close-outs are up to date.
[ ] Claim theory: Entitlement (contract/legal) is clearly mapped to documents and chronology.
[ ] Quantum model: Measured-mile/windows analysis and extended preliminaries quantified with source-linked spreadsheets.
[ ] Settlement architecture: Drafted payment schedules, retention release steps, and waiver/indemnity language ready for negotiation.
[ ] Procedural plan: Issue sequencing, targeted disclosure, and hearing time estimates prepared for the case management conference.
[ ] Enforcement awareness: If settlement fails, your seat and asset map support collection.

If you want us to pressure-test your claim pack or convert your project records into a hearing-ready case file, we can engage quickly: Contact TRW.