Naftogaz files claim against Russian giant Gazprom
Ukraine’s national oil and gas company, Naftogaz is seeking over USD 16 billion from Russia’s gas giant, Gazprom over a long-running price dispute.
Kiev is challenging the price of Russian gas and billions in debt which Moscow says it accumulated.
Naftogaz filed its claim on Friday to the Arbitral Tribunal in Stockholm, Sweden in their ongoing gas transit arbitration panel against the Russian energy giant.
Gazprom and the Ukrainian state gas firm are locked into a 10-year gas agreement signed in 2009. However, Kiev believes the terms are unacceptable, and has demanded that Moscow lower its prices.
“The transit contract is not fair for Ukraine and more than $10 billion should be paid to Naftogaz from Gazprom to compensate for losses. In this way, the overall sum we are seeking from Gazprom in terms of the gas supply contract and the transit contract is already over $16 million,” Ukrainian PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk said on Friday.
Last December, the court concluded that the gas transportation deal may be considered as “non-compliant with European competition and energy law.”
Critics say the charge seems irrelevant as Russia and Ukraine are not subject to European laws. However, Naftogaz is a major distributor of Gazprom natural gas to Europe and is therefore subject to local rules.
In response, Gazprom representative Sergey Kupriyanov reportedly said Ukraine's claims are still less than the amount that Kiev owes Gazprom.
Russia stopped supplying gas to Ukraine for almost six months in 2014. In June of that year, Gazprom switched Naftogaz over to a prepayment system because of its debts, RT reported.
In return, Naftogaz initiated a claim in the Stockholm arbitration court, claiming billions in excess had been paid to Gazprom over the years.
The Russian energy giant answered with a lawsuit against Naftogaz through the same court, demanding recovery of debt exceeding $5 billion. The first hearing took place in early April.
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