Delhi Petroleum Pty Ltd v Santos Ltd and Ors No. Scgrg-98-1315 Judgment No. S37

Delhi Petroleum Pty Ltd, the plaintiff, sought a declaration challenging the basis upon which various financial adjustments had been made between it and the defendants, Santos Ltd and others. The defendants applied for an order that the statement of claim be struck out or, alternatively, for a stay of the proceedings and a reference to arbitration. The plaintiff argued that the dispute was not within the scope of the arbitration clauses in the Settlement Agreement, the Unit Agreement, or the Downstream Agreement. It further argued that the application should be dismissed in the exercise of the discretion conferred by s53 of the Commercial Arbitration Act 1986. The court held that the dispute between the parties did not fall within the arbitration clause of the Settlement Agreement. The court also held that even if the dispute was to be caught by one or other of the arbitration clauses, the defendants' application for a stay should be dismissed in the exercise of the discretion conferred by s53 of the Commercial Arbitration Act 1986. The application was dismissed.