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Contact with chambers should be made through the Practice Management Team. They are happy to discuss client requirements and provide further information on such matters as the expertise and experience of individual members, fees, working practices and languages spoken. We have members able to work in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Greek and Chinese (Mandarin).

Outside working hours, a member of our team is always available to be contacted on matters of an urgent nature. Contact should be made using the Chambers main number or email.

For our Singapore office, for client enquiries please contact our Head of Business Development for Asia Pacific, Katie-Beth Jones, and for all other queries please contact Lynn Quek. Out of office hours calls will automatically be diverted to our practice management team in London.

London

20 Essex Street
London
WC2R 3AL

enquires@20essex.uk
t: +44 20 8133 3810

Singapore

28 Maxwell Road
#02-03 Maxwell Chambers Suites
Singapore 069120

enquires@20essex.uk
t: +45 36988379

Contact

Contact with chambers should be made through the Practice Management Team. They are happy to discuss client requirements and provide further information on such matters as the expertise and experience of individual members, fees, working practices and languages spoken. We have members able to work in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Greek and Chinese (Mandarin).

Outside working hours, a member of our team is always available to be contacted on matters of an urgent nature. Contact should be made using the Chambers main number or email.

For our Singapore office, for client enquiries please contact our Head of Business Development for Asia Pacific, Katie-Beth Jones, and for all other queries please contact Lynn Quek. Out of office hours calls will automatically be diverted to our practice management team in London.

London

20 Essex Street
London
WC2R 3AL

enquires@20essex.uk
t: +44 20 8133 3810

Singapore

28 Maxwell Road
#02-03 Maxwell Chambers Suites
Singapore 069120

enquires@20essex.uk
t: +45 36988379

< Back To News
18/01/2021

Take or pay: breach of capacity obligation causes no loss

British Gas Trading Limited v Shell Gas Trading Ltd and Esso Exploration & Productions UK Ltd [2020] EWCA Civ 2349. Judgment of English Court of Appeal, 4 December 2020.

Take or pay provisions in long-term agreements for the sale of natural gas (including LNG) are ubiquitous. Such provisions oblige buyers to either accept delivery of a set volume of gas per period (usually a year), or to pay some minimum amount if delivery is not accepted. A buyers’ annual take or pay quantity is frequently set by reference to the sellers’ obligation to maintain
a certain capacity to deliver gas.

In British Gas Trading Limited v Shell Gas Trading Ltd and Esso Exploration & Productions UK Ltd [2020] the Court of Appeal held that although the sellers under a long-term contract for the sale of natural gas were in breach of their capacity obligation, that breach caused the buyers no loss. Caveat emptor, it seems, applies as much to quantity disputes arising under take or pay provisions as it does to quality disputes.

Download the full article (PDF, 608KB)

Relevant members
Malcolm Jarvis
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