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27 Oct 2015, 10:34

Turkey files arbitration case against Gazprom, disputing price for Russian gas

Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that Gazprom and Botas had already reached an agreement on 10.25% gas discoun

ANKARA, October 27. /TASS/. Turkey has filed an arbitration case against Gazprom, disputing the price for Russian gas, the head of press service of the country’s Ministry of energy and natural resources told TASS on Tuesday.

"On October 26, an international arbitration case was filed related to purchases of natural gas from Russia in the period from December 29, 2014," he said.

According to the statement published by the Turkish company Botas, the agreement, which was signed on December 29, 2014 entitles the Turkish side to do this.

"Botas has sent a written request to Gazprom Export regarding gas discount /in 2014 - TASS/. The talks resulted in an agreement to reduce price and define discount due to take effect on December 29, 2014. After the 6-month period stipulated by the agreement expired on June 29, 2015 Botas did not apply to arbitration regarding price revision. However, the required documents, defined by agreements achieved earlier, were never signed," the statement said.

Gazprom official representative Sergey Kupriyanov confirmed to TASS that "the contracts stipulate" the possibility of Botas’ applying to arbitration.

"This possibility is stipulated by the contracts. There are two options how the situation may unfold - either pre-court agreements or arbitration settlement," he said.

As TASS reported earlier on July 31, Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that Gazprom and Botas had already reached an agreement on 10.25% gas discount. He added that the sides hadn’t signed any documents related to discount.

Gas discount for the Turkish state company is a compromise between Russia and Turkey within the intergovernmental agreement on construction of the 1st line of the Turkish Stream. The Russian side has already submitted draft agreement and expects its signing will be combined with signing of the additional agreement on discount.