Shale Ltd is a company that specialises in natural gas excavation. It is headquartered in London. Shale Ltd has two wholly-owned subsidiaries: Drill Ltd, whose sole business is the extraction of natural gas at various locations around the world; and Fuel Ltd, whose sole business is processing extracted natural gas for subsequent sale on the energy markets. All three companies are incorporated in the UK and have separate boards of directors, although the two subsidiaries are customarily managed in accordance with a 'Group Strategic Plan' devised by the parent company's board.

In September 2014, Alejandro, a former employee of Drill Ltd, commenced litigation against Drill Ltd in a Venezuelan civil court, claiming damages for serious and irreparable respiratory problems allegedly resulting from persistent exposure to toxic fumes at a local extraction site.

In October 2015, Shale Ltd initiated a 'Group-Wide Strategic Reorganisation', as a result of which a number of lucrative mineral rights belonging to Drill Ltd were transferred to Fuel Ltd in return for a nominal consideration.

In April 2016, the Venezuelan court ruled in favour of Alejandro, and made a significant damages award against Drill Ltd. However, Drill Ltd has since been brought into insolvent liquidation, and has insufficient funds and assets to cover the damages owing to Alejandro.

Alejandro is now seeking to recover the damages that he is owed either from Shale Ltd or Fuel Ltd, and is considering bringing recovery proceedings in an English court. Discuss