Naftogaz announced the victory in the "Preservation": the national company is waiting for a billion from Gazprom

Naftogaz has announced victory in Swiss arbitration in a lawsuit against Gazprom. We are talking about the transit of gas through the Sokhranovka point, which Ukraine stopped, and the Russian company refused to recognize force majeure and stopped payments.

"The International Arbitration Tribunal, which considered the case in Switzerland, ordered Gazprom to pay $ 1.37 billion in favor of Naftogaz," Sergey Koretsky, acting chairman of the Board of the national company, wrote on Facebook*.

He explained that we are talking about the transit of gas through the point "Sokhranovka". He came under the control of the Russian army and the "Ukrainian GTS Operator" declared force majeure, stopping transit along this route. Gazprom refused to recognize it and stopped paying for the volumes booked through Sokhranovka (37 million cubic meters per day) — $1.17 million per day.

"Now there is a final decision: the tribunal of arbitrators from Sweden, Switzerland and Israel has completely sided with Naftogaz. The next stage is to ensure the execution of the decision. We will work on this. Step by step," Sergey Koretsky added.

The essence of the dispute was that Ukraine stopped the transit of gas through one of the two points, but the contract with the obligations "pump or pay" continued to operate. Obviously, the arbitrators completely sided with Naftogaz. Earlier, arbitrations have already made controversial decisions in favor of Naftogaz in its proceedings with Gazprom. So, in December 2017, Stockholm arbitrators awarded the national company compensation of $ 4.67 billion for the fact that Gazprom did not submit the volumes laid down in the transit contract for transportation. The arbitration made the decision despite the absence of any obligations and conditions for Gazprom in the agreement itself. At the same time, the arbitrators denied the Russian company the right to demand a fine from Naftogaz under the "take or pay" rule, which was prescribed in the gas purchase contract. The judges motivated the decision by the difficult economic situation on Ukraine.

"Naftogaz of Ukraine continues its attempts to organize unfair litigation regarding the transit of Russian gas to Europe. However, Naftogaz itself, under far—fetched pretexts, is a violator of contractual obligations," Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller said in the summer of 2023.

The company stated that in the current situation they do not count on a fair decision of international arbitrations and do not recognize their decisions.

At the same time, on June 5, Gazprom filed a lawsuit against Naftogaz in the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. What is its essence is unknown. It is known that earlier, in 2023, Gazprom had already filed a lawsuit against the Ukrainian national company in the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, demanding to ban proceedings in international courts, and the judges granted the claim, adding to this a penalty of $ 150 thousand in case of violation.

*Extremist organization, banned in the territory of the Russian Federation