Ukraine's Naftogaz starts collecting Gazprom debt in Luxembourg
One year after its lawsuit victory against Gazprom at the Arbitration Institute in Stockholm, Naftogaz of Ukraine announced on Facebook that it has started collecting its debt from the Russian company in Luxembourg too.
“Gazprom has to pay us $4.6 billion in compensation according to the transit contract,” the Ukrainian company’s press service stated, noting that it has already received $2.1 billion in gas. “The remaining amount we have been collecting through an enforcement process in several jurisdictions – the Netherlands, UK, Switzerland and the US, and recently in Luxembourg too,” Naftogaz announced.
Similar processes may soon be initiated in other countries, the Ukrainian company stated, commenting that “the international judicial system is not hasty, but it is definite”.
A Gazprom spokesperson declined to comment on the seizure of assets in Luxembourg.
In January, Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev said that “tens of billions of dollars” of Gazprom’s assets had been seized in the Netherlands, UK and Switzerland as part of the execution of the Arbitration Institute’s decision.
Kobolyev noted that such legal processes have been initiated in a total of six jurisdictions, although he did not specify which ones. Later it was learned that the Ukrainian company had also approached American courts on the matter.
The dispute between Gazprom and Naftogaz concerning gas transit contracts has lasted since 2014. In February last year, the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce ordered Gazprom to pay Kyiv $4.63 for failing to deliver the volumes of gas stipulated by the contract. Taking account $2.1 billion that Ukraine owed Gazprom for gas already delivered, the Russian company was obligated to pay a balance of $2.56 billion. Gazprom managed to have the decision temporarily suspended due to an appeal, but its appeal was later overruled.