Naftogaz Seeking To Engage US Courts In Legal Dispute With Gazprom - Reports

Naftogaz Seeking to Engage US Courts in Legal Dispute With Gazprom - Reports

Ukraine's Naftogaz energy company seeks to involve US courts in legal dispute with Russia's Gazprom energy giant to make the latter pay $2.6 billion in compensation as part of a settlement of the dispute over gas supplies, media reported on Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th December, 2018) Ukraine's Naftogaz energy company seeks to involve US courts in legal dispute with Russia's Gazprom energy giant to make the latter pay $2.6 billion in compensation as part of a settlement of the dispute over gas supplies, media reported on Wednesday.

According to Russia's Kommersant newspaper, Naftogas brought an action against the US division of Gazprom Marketing & Trading (GM&T USA) and DeGolyer & MacNaughton consulting company, which is a leading auditor in oil and gas field before the District Court for the Northern District of Texas and the District Court for the Southern District of Texas on December 6.

Naftogaz, in particular, asked the courts to oblige GM&T USA and DeGolyer & MacNaughton to provide information and access to documents, which allegedly should facilitate Naftogaz' legal action against Gazprom in the Netherlands, the news outlet added.

The two companies have been entangled in litigation since June 2014, when Gazprom switched Ukraine to a prepayment scheme citing its massive gas debt. In late February, the Stockholm arbitration partially satisfied Naftogaz claims over what it said was the failure of Russian energy company to supply agreed volumes of gas for transit, ordering Gazprom to pay $4.63 billion to the Ukrainian firm. However, taking into account the amount of money previously awarded to Gazprom in relation with the gas supply contract, the mutual offset of liabilities resulted in Gazprom's obligation to pay $2.56 billion.

Gazprom filed an appeal to Sweden's Svea Court of Appeal, which ordered to suspend the execution of the arbitration court's ruling, however, Ukraine said it would start claiming the compensation via asset freezes in Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.