Georgian government decides not to terminate contract with Frontera
Frontera has already agreed to return 99 per cent of the search area, while the state decided to allow the company to continue its activities on the remaining one per cent of the area. Photo: Frontera Resources Georgia Corporation.
Tweet 
Share
The Georgian government has decided not to terminate its contract with Frontera Resources Georgia Corporation and to allow the company to continue operating in part of the original contract area.
Frontera has already agreed to return 99 per cent of the search area, while the state decided to allow the company to continue its activities on the remaining one per cent of the area.
The decision of the state is in line with the strategic goals of the country. It is inadmissible to cast a shadow on the international reputation of Georgia’s investment environment”, reads the statement published by the Ministry of Economy of Georgia.
The ministry says that relations with the United States, 'which is the main strategic partner of our country, is a fundamental issue for us'.
Georgia's investment image and close relationship with the United States are important, first and foremost, for the relationship with the American business community, because special attention is always paid to attracting American investment to Georgia", reads the statement.
In April 2020, the government of Georgia announced that the International Arbitration Tribunal had upheld the vast majority of claims filed by the Georgian government against the US oil and gas firm Frontera Resources.
Georgia had accused the company of violating the terms of their contract signed in 1997. They claimed that Frontera refused to return state land they were no longer using for extraction.
Read more about the case here.
Former employees of the American oil and gas company Frontera gave held a rally demanding they receive back pay.
Georgian Independent MP Beka Natsvlishvili, who left the ruling Georgian Dream party last year, has addressed US congressmen, senators and newly appointed Ambassador Kelly Degnan regarding the activities of American oil and gas company Frontera, which has been drilling in eastern Georgia starting 1997.
Chairman of the Board of Directors of Frontera Resources Corporation Steve C. Nicandros and Chief Executive Officer Zaza Mamulaishvili has sent an open letter to the Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Gakharia in which they ask him to 'stop the arbitrary, illegal termination of our contract with the state' as it will worsen the climate for US private-sector direct investment in Georgia.
The Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation (GOGC) and the Georgian State Agency of Oil and Gas (SAOG) call on Frontera Resources Georgia Corporation (FRGC) to refrain from 'unscrupulous actions, disseminating misinformation' pertaining to the actual outcomes of arbitration proceedings, and hence ‘politicising what is a legal dispute’.
US oil and gas company Frontera Resources has called on the Georgian government to stop ‘its deformation campaign’, after the latter released a statement saying it had agreed not to terminate a contract with the company despite Georgia’s right to do so.
US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan says the US welcomes the decision of the government of Georgia regarding the Frontera Resources case.
Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has noted "extreme importance" of investment climate in Georgia in the wake of arbitration dispute between the government and the Frontera company. The Georgian government has decided not to terminate its contract with Frontera Resources Georgia Corporation and to allow the company to continue operating in part of the original contract area.