Ghana oil firm to pursue its legal battle over Glencore
A FORMER trading partner of commodities giant Glencore has pledged to pursue a legal challenge in Ghana, despite losing a ruling in the UK High Court last week.
Springfield Energy, an oil company in the west African country, said it maintained that Glencore broke Ghanaian law by storing oil at a depot without a licence before transporting it.
A spokesman for Springfield, which had a contract to buy oil from Glencore, said: “We strongly believe this is a matter of Ghana law and consequently a matter for Ghana’s courts.”
Last week Nicholas Vinehall QC, sitting as a deputy High Court judge, ruled resoundingly in Glencore’s favour over a contract dispute between the two sides. He found that Springfield broke a prior agreement when it failed to pay Glencore $1.2m (£915,000) plus interest for breaching a contract to take oil from the FTSE 100 company.
Having paid almost half of an agreed settlement of $2.2m, Springfield halted payments on the basis that because Glencore had allegedly broken Ghanaian law, it no longer had to pay. The judge found “no illegality of the sort belatedly alleged by Springfield” and said he preferred the testimony of Glencore’s expert. He criticised written evidence presented by Springfield as “difficult to follow and superficial”.
Led by Ivan Glasenberg, the company operates in more than 50 countries, producing and shipping commodities. It was revealed earlier this month that Glencore’s board had formed a separate committee to handle a probe into its activities by the US Department of Justice.
Chairman Tony Hayward will lead the response to the Doj’s subpoena for documents, alongside two of Glencore’s directors.
Around £5bn was wiped off Glencore’s market value at the start of July when it revealed the DOJ had served a subpoena under US laws relating to corruption and money laundering.
The US wants to see documents relating to Glencore’s dealings in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Venezuela dating back to 2007.
Glencore declined to comment.