Swedish court rejects appeal by Russia's Gazprom in gas transit dispute with Ukraine's Naftogaz
by RT
Swedish court rejects appeal by Russia’s Gazprom in gas transit dispute with Ukraine’s Naftogaz
Sweden’s Svea Court of Appeal on Wednesday upheld an earlier arbitration decision forcing Russian energy major Gazprom to pay Ukraine’s Naftogaz $2.56 billion in an ongoing gas transit dispute.
“Today’s decision means that the court has rejected Gazprom’s claim, and the decision of the arbitration cannot be canceled. Apart from that, the court has not detected any procedural violations,” said the ruling. It has noted that the decision cannot be appealed.
The existing agreement for Russian gas transit through Ukraine to Europe expires next year, but the talks have stalled. Last week, Gazprom offered to extend the existing agreement or sign a new deal for one year, taking into consideration the forecast for the European Union’s gas demand.
Naftogaz wants the Russian company to pay the money awarded by the arbitration before any deal is reached.
Following the Swedish court decision, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that “Naftogaz should formalize a new structure and conduct all necessary procedures after the unbundling, and it is also necessary to allocate necessary volumes.”
“All this takes time, and there is still time, but it is running out,” Peskov specified, noting that while work was underway, it was not possible to reveal any details of negotiations.
Gazprom and Naftogaz have been litigating over gas supplies and transit contracts with the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce since 2014. Gazprom is demanding more than $37 billion from the Ukrainian company for reducing gas transit under the take-or-pay clause for 2012-2016, payment for gas supplied in May-June 2014 and other gas debts. However, the Stockholm Arbitration court sided with Ukraine, obliging Gazprom to compensate Naftogaz.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed by telephone the upcoming trilateral gas talks between Ukraine, Russia and the European Union.
