Experience, as Oscar Wilde noted, is the name people give to their mistakes. There can be no worse experience in international arbitration than for a party, however unwittingly, to have allowed his opponent to bring duplicate proceedings. This may happen where one party commences arbitration under the arbitration clause of one agreement, only to find that his opponent commences a parallel arbitration against him in relation to the same dispute under the arbitration clause of a separate, but related agreement.
The likelihood of this happening is greater than is commonly imagined. In any commercial relationship where there is more than one agreement or more than one party (e.g. joint venture arrangements, construction projects and "string" commodities deals), the potential for duplicate proceedings exists. And it does happen. The Bulk Oil1 disputes, albeit involving arbitration and litigation proceedings, are real examples of a real problem.
