Abstract
This paper examines the effect of public authorities’ acts on performance of obligations in contracts for the international sale of oil and gas. The question arises as to whether such acts represent force majeure that the contracting parties can invoke in order to exempt themselves from the performance of contractual obligations and from contractual liability. This question is analysed through arbitral awards and court decisions in disputes that have arisen on this issue since 1970s. The issue has become particularly relevant since April 2022, when the Decree on the transition to payment for natural gas in rubles had been adopted. Particular attention has been drawn to the fact that the first arbitral award has already been issued, in which abovementioned Decree, as an act of a public authority (president of the state), is qualified as force majeure. The answer to the question of whether the acts of public authorities represent force majeure in contracts for the international sale of oil and gas is not unequivocal, as it depends on the circumstances of each specific case.
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