Stockholm arbitration decision on Naftogaz-Gazprom dispute to set precedent for European companies - Ukrainian justice minister
KYIV. June 1 (Interfax) - Based on the decision by the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, European companies will have solid grounds to go to court to seek the cancellation of their contractual obligations to Gazprom if they see them as disadvantageous, Ukrainian Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko said.
"I believe that, following this decision, a lot of companies in European countries can go to court and have every chance to have disadvantageous, not market-based, and noneconomic requirements imposed on them by Russia and Gazprom canceled," Petrenko told journalists in Kyiv on Thursday.
Naftogaz of Ukraine reported on Wednesday that the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce had issued a separate award in its dispute with Gazprom over a 2009 gas supply contract. Naftogaz said the Stockholm arbitration granted its claims on reviewing the contract price for gas consistent with market conditions, canceled Gazprom's 'take-or-pay' clause, and canceled the ban on gas re-export by Ukraine.
In June 2014, Gazprom approached the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce seeking to recover Naftogaz's debt for gas supplied in 2013 and 2014 and the payments it owed based on the 'take-or-pay' formula. Naftogaz in turn brought a case against Gazprom seeking a retroactive revision of the price and compensation for the amount overpaid and the removal of bans to re-export gas. The court combined both cases.