Ukraine's Naftogaz files new lawsuit against Gazprom in Stockholm Arbitration
The Managing Director of the Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz Yuriy Vitrenko reported on his Facebook page that the Ukrainian company filed a new lawsuit against the Russian gas giant Gazprom in the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce. The new lawsuit involves the contract for gas transit.
These are the counterclaims that the Ukrainian side files against the Russian company. "It was our turn to file a statement of protection and counterclaims. The number of pages of the main text of our statement alone exceeds 500 pages. It is accompanied by three reports of international experts, which were specially developed for this purpose. Also, witness statements and several other applications are attached," wrote Vitrenko.
The total amount of the Naftogaz claim could be about $12 billion.
Earlier, Vitrenko said that the Ukrainian company will file a lawsuit against Gazprom on November 1 for more than $11 billion to compensate for possible losses from gas transit termination to Europe. Vitrenko made his statement after Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said that all legal disputes should be settled before signing a new contract with Ukraine.
On January 1, 2020, the current 10-year transit agreement between Naftogaz of Ukraine and Russia’s Gazprom will expire. Naftogaz is skeptical of whether a new contract will be signed, and the group’s executive director Yuriy Vitrenko said that the company should prepare for transit to cease in 2020.
On September 19 this year, trilateral gas consultations (Ukraine, Russia, the European Commission) were held in Brussels regarding the possibility of a new contract. Ukraine proposed a new 10-year contract for the transit of up to 90 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
The most recent round of gas talks took place on October 28. After the meeting, the Ukrainian delegation said that the Russians had nothing new to offer. Naftogaz said that both Ukraine and the European Commission are in favor of signing a new long-term contract for the transit of a significant quantity of gas. On the Ukrainian side, the contract would be signed by the new GTS operator, which will be separated from the Naftogaz group.
The next round of negotiations is scheduled for November. During this time, experts in Moscow and Brussels will investigate whether the changes in Ukrainian legislation comply with EU regulations.