Swedish appeals court upholds suspension of Stockholm arbitration ruling on Gazprom vs Naftogaz case
The Swedish Svea Court of Appeal upheld its decision to suspend the February 28 ruling, which was made by the Stockholm arbitration court, concerning the gas transit contract dispute between Gazprom and Naftogaz.
“Naftogaz tried to appeal this court order, but the court ruled that its arguments were insufficient,” Gazprom reported through its press service. “This circumstance strengthens Gazprom’s position for appealing attempts by Naftogaz to enforce the aforementioned arbitration ruling in various countries.”
The Svea Court of Appeal accepted Gazprom’s application and suspended the Stockholm arbitration’s decision on the dispute between Gazprom and Naftogaz regarding the gas transit contract. Naftogaz challenged the suspension of recovery procedure.
The Stockholm Arbitration court previously ruled that Gazprom must pay the Ukrainian company Naftogaz a fine of $4.7 billion, due to violation in the transit contract. In response, Gazprom sent the Svea Court of Appeal a claim requesting to cancel the decision.
As a result of two arbitration disputes between the two companies, Gazprom is obligated to pay $2.56 billion to Naftogaz.
Yuriy Vitrenko, Chief Commercial Officer of the Naftogaz national joint stock company, noted in late March that the debt recovery process could take up to six months. He did not exclude the possibility of an arrest of the Russian company’s gas in underground storage facilities in Europe, or that shares of the Nord Stream operator may be sold off through the Swiss court to recover the debt.