OUT-LAW NEWS 2 min. read
Contractor record-keeping vital to Middle East conflict claims
Missile damage at a home in Israel. Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images.
17 Mar 2026, 2:13 pm
Construction contractors whose work has been impacted by ongoing conflict in the Middle East have been urged to focus on building up evidence to support contractual claims they might wish to pursue for recovering an increase in their costs.
Dubai-based Nesreen Osman of Pinsent Masons, who specialises in construction dispute resolution, made the recommendation during a Pinsent Masons event on geopolitics and construction contracts for EMEA projects on Thursday.
Osman highlighted the impact the current conflict has had on projects in the region, from the temporary shuttering of some projects, to delays to others owing to port closures, the evacuation of foreign nationals, and ongoing safety and security concerns.
In this context, Osman said, contractors will have legitimate concerns about the rising cost of materials, which she said may not be factored into their contracts. While many contractors’ first instinct might to be trigger force majeure clauses, Osman said doing so may not provide them with the relief they need. She said they may have other options.
“Many of the construction contracts in the region provide for an extension of time under force majeure, but not cost recovery,” Osman said. “So, if you're the contractor, you're entitled to more time, but you're still on the hook for standing costs, extended prelims, escalated material costs, and that can be catastrophic on big EPC projects where we know the margins are already quite low.”
“The real delay driver may not be the conflict itself but rather the actions of state authorities or even project owners themselves in response to regulatory diktats, such as port closures or imposition of site access restrictions,” she said. Osman added that there may be justification for contractors to rely on ‘change in law’ provisions as well as other clauses in the contracts in response to the owners’ actions. Suspension clauses may also be relevant as might the civil codes across the Middle East, which recognise the concept of exceptional unforeseen circumstances. “These are mandatory provisions that cannot be contracted out of that provide an entitlement to money,” she said.
Osman added that specific contracts with state-owned energy companies, such as Aramco in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, may contain specific relief provisions, such as standby provisions specifically for force majeure.
“Force majeure is the start of the analysis, but it's certainly not the end of it and contractors do need to think more widely in terms of potential entitlements and work out whether force majeure really is the most appropriate claim to be making at this stage,” Osman said.
Osman said that while requirements around the notification of claims are quite strict in common law jurisdictions such as England and Wales, these tend to be less stringent under the civil code systems in the Middle East. Nevertheless, she urged contractors to give notice of claims timeously to avoid those claims being rejected at first instance by employers.
“Our advice is always to have the systems in place to make sure you get your notices in on time,” she said.
Osman drew parallels between the current crisis and the circumstances contractors faced during the Covid-19 pandemic. She said contractors can learn lessons from the pandemic in relation to record-keeping practices for supporting their claims.
“The Covid claims that suffered the most were those impacted by an issue of evidence, not an issue of entitlement,” Osman said. “Our very strong advice to contractors at the moment is to put in place the processes to make sure you're collating the right records that will eventually help you evidence your claims. This should involve putting in place records protocols to, from the outset, work out what they will need to keep a record of to prove particular types of claims.”
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