A UK appeals court has upheld an earlier ruling ordering the seizure of a London property owned by the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to help satisfy a $2.4 billion arbitration award in favor of an Emirati firm, Iranian media reported on Monday.
The property, known as the NIOC House, is located near the British Parliament and has been owned by Iran for around 50 years.
Brutalist in style, it became the headquarters of Iran's national oil company under the country's ousted Shah soon after it was completed in 1975 and reflects design elements of Westminster Abbey across the street.
Iran's diplomatic isolation has deepened as a lingering impasse over its disputed nuclear program prompted European states to trigger UN sanctions which resumed late last month, further squeezing Iran's beleaguered economy.
The slow-motion legal dispute which stretches back appears to have no relation to the current geopolitical standoff.
UAE-based Crescent Petroleum said in its complaint that NIOC illegally transferred the property to a separate entity the Oil Industry Pension and Welfare Fund after the international arbitration ruling, in what the company called an attempt to keep assets out of creditors’ reach.
IRNA’s correspondent in London cited an informed source as saying that lawyers representing the Islamic Republic of Iran have filed an appeal against the latest ruling.
If the previous ruling is upheld, IRNA cited the source as saying, Iran’s lawyers can refer the case to the UK Supreme Court for review — a process that is usually lengthy and could take up to two years.
A lower UK court had already voided that transfer, describing it as a maneuver to prevent debt recovery. NIOC and the pension fund appealed the verdict, but the Court of Appeal dismissed their objections and affirmed that the building could be seized.
Judges found that the documents presented by NIOC to prove the pension fund’s ownership did not meet the necessary legal conditions, clearing the way for the property to be placed under judicial control.
The court said the building would remain under UK jurisdiction to partially offset the damages owed to Crescent Petroleum.
Dispute dates back over two decades
The ruling marks the latest turn in one of Iran’s longest and most politically charged energy disputes.
The Crescent case dates back to a 2001 contract between NIOC and Crescent Petroleum to supply 500 million cubic feet of sour gas per day from Iran’s Salman field. The deal, signed under then-Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, collapsed amid internal opposition in Tehran, prompting years of arbitration and litigation.
Iran was found liable for breaching the contract and was ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. In recent years, Crescent has moved to enforce those awards by targeting Iranian state assets abroad.
The London property was valued at about £100 million ($125 million), Iranian media said.
The Iran daily, a state-run outlet, attributed the loss of NIOC assets to “political interference by those who cancelled the Crescent deal.”
NIOC has already lost another office in Rotterdam as part of enforcement actions, leaving the company without any active offices in Europe.
