Stockholm court to continue examining Gazprom complaint against Lithuanian govt in June
VILNIUS. Jan 11 (Interfax) - The Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce will examine the dispute between the Lithuanian government and Russian gas major OJSC Gazprom , which together with Germany's E.ON Ruhrgas are shareholders in Lithuanian gas utility Lietuvos dujos, in June.
The institute appointed a tribunal of three arbiters at the end of 2011, sources said. The tribunal is scheduled to meet in June of this year. Before that time, both sides will be given time to prepare their documents.
In the summer of 2011, Gazprom filed a request with the Arbitration Institute for arbitration against the Lithuanian Energy Ministry. Gazprom is asking the tribunal to recognize the Lithuanian ministry's actions to initiate litigation against Lietuvos dujos at a Vilnius court and its top management as breach of the company's shareholders' agreement and is demanding that damages inflicted by that breach be compensated.
On March 25, 2011, the Energy Ministry asked the Vilnius court to investigate Lietuvos dujos and halt misconduct, and to remove General Director Viktoras Valentukevicius and management board members Kirill Seleznyov and Valery Golubev from the company's governing bodies.
As the Lietuvos dujos shareholders agreement states that all shareholder disputes must be heard in the Stockholm court, Gazprom does not recognize the Vilnius court's jurisdiction and asked the Stockholm court on June 13 to ban further litigation in view of the lack of jurisdiction. The Emergency Arbitrator at the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce on June 24 ruled that there was no urgency for injunctions in the form of a ban on the Energy Ministry with regards to continuing litigation between the Lithuanian Energy Ministry and Lietuvos dujos in a Vilnius court.
But Gazprom said the arbitrator noted that "Gazprom's position has sufficient grounds to win the case on the merits of the dispute."
Meanwhile, on January 11, 2012, the Vilnius court will again begin examining the Energy Ministry's lawsuit related to Lietuvos dujos.
E.ON Ruhrgas International GmbH owns 38.9% of Lietuvos dujos, Gazprom owns 37.1%, and the Lithuanian Energy Ministry owns 17.7%.
