Ukrainian Naftogaz company CEO Andriy Kobolev said that he expected that the Swedish Svea Court of Appeal would soon order Russian gas giant Gazprom to pay $2.56 billion to Naftogaz
KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th February, 2019) Ukrainian Naftogaz company CEO Andriy Kobolev said that he expected that the Swedish Svea Court of Appeal would soon order Russian gas giant Gazprom to pay $2.56 billion to Naftogaz.
"Several judicial processes are currently underway. We have recently finished oral hearings in the Netherlands. Next week, hearings [on forced sale of Gasprom property] will be held in the United Kingdom. We are optimistic and expect positive decisions regarding the schedule of property sales and the money recovery by Naftogaz. We expect this to happen in near future," Kobolev said late on Monday, as broadcast by Ukrainian ICTV channel.
Gazprom and Naftogaz have been entangled in litigation since June 2014, when Gazprom switched Ukraine to a prepayment scheme, citing its massive gas debt.
In late February 2018, the Stockholm arbitration partially satisfied Naftogaz claims over Gazprom's alleged failure to supply agreed volumes of gas for transit and ordered Gazprom to pay $4.63 billion to the Ukrainian company. 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.
