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Gazprom urges to wait for Stockholm Court’s decision on gas dispute with Naftogaz

Stockholm court plans to decide on revising transit conditions with Naftogaz in the end of June

ST. PETERSBURG, June 1. /TASS/. Chairman of Gazprom Management Committee Alexei Miller urged to wait for the final decision of the Stockholm Arbitration on the dispute with Naftogaz of Ukraine.

"There is no decision yet. I do not know what Naftogaz says, there is no official decision. So there is nothing to comment on," Miller told journalists at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2017.

The Russian Energy Ministry also believes it is too early to draw any conclusions:

"Gazprom received a preliminary decision of the court, it is quite large and they are studying it. After the lawyers have studied it, it would be possible to draw conclusions," Novak said, adding that it is too early to talk about the risks for gas transit through Ukraine because of this situation.

On June 16, 2014, Gazprom appealed to the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce with a request for arbitration in order to recover from Naftogaz Ukraine the outstanding debt for natural gas and interest on this debt. On the same day, Naftogaz Ukraine addressed to arbitration with the requirement of retroactive change in natural gas prices, reimbursement of all overpayments that had been made since May 20, 2011 in the amount of at least $6 bln. On July 21, 2014 the two cases were consolidated.

In October 2014, Naftogaz filed a second lawsuit, demanding to oblige Gazprom to pay compensations worth $3.2 bln for the reduction in transit volumes and $3 billion for a low transit rate. On March 14, Gazprom submitted specified requirements to Naftogaz to the Stockholm International Arbitration. The total amount of claims topped $31.759 bln as it included the payment for not taken volumes of gas in Q3 of 2015. Following the move, Naftogaz said it would raise its claims to Gazprom. The official application of the Ukrainian gas company dated August 2, 2016 says the amount of its claims to Gazprom stands at $26.6 bln.

Gazprom later increased the volume of claims for Naftogaz of Ukraine to $37 bln from $31.759 bln. This volume, according to the company, includes the requirements for payment of arrears for gas supplied in May-June 2014, payment on the "take-or-pay" obligation for 2012-2016, as well as late payment for gas.

It was reported earlier, the Stockholm court planned to make a decision on revising transit conditions with Naftogaz of Ukraine on June 30, 2017.