Gazprom: Stockholm court keeps take-or-pay term for Ukraine

MOSCOW, Jun 6 (PRIME) -- The Stockholm Arbitration Court has not lifted the take-or-pay condition of a long-term natural gas supply contract between Russian gas giant Gazprom and Ukrainian energy holding Naftogaz Ukrainy, Gazprom Deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev told reporters on Tuesday.

On May 31, Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Yelena Zerkal said that the court cancelled the take-or-pay condition of the contract, allowed Kiev to re-export gas, and ordered a revision of the gas price retroactively from 2014. Gazprom said that the decision was interim and the company needs time to analyze the document.

“We have touched only a single issue (in public) – that the arbitration decision cancelled the take-or-pay term. But this is incorrect, it did not cancel the take-or-pay term. I will not tell you how the text goes exactly, but there was no lifting of the take-or-pay condition,” Medvedev said.

The balance of the decision tips the scales in favor of Gazprom, but the balance will be defined only by a final decision of the court, he said.

Now the companies are to submit their objections and comments on the decision until June 30. “It does not mean that a final decision will be made on June 30. Moreover, we all know that arbitration courts often delay the deadline for making a decision…This is a difficult issue that requires serious work,” he said.

The court is yet to publish the text of the decision.

He also said that Gazprom is ready to discuss gas transit through Ukraine after 2019, when the current transit contract expires.

“We are inviting our Ukrainian colleagues to come to us…Moreover, they have always come to us to discuss transit. But in response, we received a suggestion before the election of Donald Trump to come to the U.S. to talk. It may have been some sort of a joke, and I haven’t been in New York for a long time and would like to visit it, but not with this goal in mind,” he said.

The possible volume of transit after 2019 will depend on conditions presented and coordinated by Ukraine, he added.

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