Ukraine may sue Gazprom for up to $50 billion
Ukraine can be awarded approximately 50 billion dollars from the Russian gas company, Gazprom, in the Stockholm arbitration, as was stated during an interview with Andriy Kobolyev, the Chief Executive Officer of Ukrainian state energy company Naftogaz, on TV Channel 5, Ukrinform reports.
"In September of this year we will have a final hearing of the case on the gas purchase and sale contract in Stockholm. After that, within six months of the completion of all procedures, we will have a resolution and will implement it," he said.
Kobolyev said that even a moot issue on Gazprom’s gas supplies to the occupied territories alone can be worth more than $ 1 billion. "Gas supply, as Gazprom insists, is in process; but we cannot confirm this, as we have not ordered it and have no ability to verify it. Nevertheless this issue is worth more than a billion dollars already," the head of Naftogaz said.
According to him, as for the other issues, they can be up to tens of billions of dollars. "The total cost, which we theoretically can obtain from the purchase and sale contracts and natural gas transit, is about $50 billion in favor of Ukraine. I hope that the question of who owes whom and how much for gas supplies, should finally be resolved in the first quarter; after that we will proceed to its implementation which will take some extra time," the CEO of Naftogaz stressed.
The Stockholm arbitration court has for consideration two claims by Naftogaz of Ukraine against Gazprom – for gas supplies as well as for gas transit; and one claim of Gazprom against Naftogaz for a gas purchase and sale contract from 2009.