This case is one of a large number of arbitrations brought by foreign investors against the Argentine Republic, arising from measures taken by the government of Argentina during its financial and economic crisis of 2001–2002. In each case, the claimant asserts that its investment has been damaged by one or more measures taken by the Argentine government; that the investment is covered by a Bilateral Investment Treaty between the country where it is incorporated and the Argentine Republic; that it has a claim for compensation or damages under that treaty; and that the treaty provides for arbitration of its claims pursuant to the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (the ICSID Convention). In the present case, the claimant, Gas Natural SDG S.A. (hereafter “Gas Natural” or “Claimant”), is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the Kingdom of Spain, and the BIT in question is the Agreement on the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments between the Kingdom of Spain and the Argentine Republic signed in Buenos Aires on October 3, 1991 and in force since September 28, 1992 (hereafter “the BIT”). Argentina contests the jurisdiction of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on various grounds, and asserts that the claims are not covered by the relevant BIT because (inter alia) the challenged measures were not directed at the investor or the investment, but rather were measures of general economic policy not subject to the BIT or the ICSID Convention.