The DIFC Court have rejected a claim of sovereign immunity by the Kurdistan Regional Government in DIFC Court proceedings for the enforcement of London-seated LCIA partial final awards claiming over US$2 billion.

In 2007, Crescent Petroleum, the oldest privately-owned oil and gas company in the Middle East, agreed with Dana Gas, one the leading publicly-listed natural gas companies in the region, to create a joint venture called Pearl Petroleum.

This Consortium entered into an agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for the development of the Khor Mor and Chemchemal petrochemical fields in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The KRG were and remain engaged in a political dispute with the Federal Government of Iraq, so the Consortium was unable to export gas produced by the developed fields.

As a result, the KRG became liable under its contract with the Consortium to pay a minimum guaranteed price, but it failed to make the required payments in full.