Naftogaz Ukrainy says London court permits arrest of Gazprom assets

KIEV, Jun 19 (PRIME) -- Ukrainian energy holding Naftogaz Ukrainy has received an approval of the Commercial Court of London to freeze assets of Russian gas giant Gazprom in the U.K. under a previous decision of the Stockholm arbitration court, CCO Yury Vitrenko said on his Facebook page on Tuesday.

“We have been waiting so far for cancellation of a court of appeals decision on suspension of execution of the arbitration court’s decision in the Netherlands and Switzerland. Still, this did not block us from receiving orders of a U.K. court to freeze Gazprom assets for further enforced recovery. We have just received the orders for Gazprom,” he said.

Ukrainian news agency UNIAN reported that Vitrenko referred to a decision of the Commercial Court of London that stipulated that Gazprom has to submit a list of all U.K. and Welsh assets with a price of over U.S. $50,000 to Naftogaz Ukrainy within 48 hours after receiving the order.

The Stockholm arbitration court ruled earlier in 2018 that Gazprom must pay Naftogaz Ukrainy U.S. $2.56 billion for non-shipment of gas. Gazprom said that the decision led to an imbalance in relations of the companies and requested termination of gas transit and delivery contracts with Ukraine.

Gazprom said on June 14 that a court of appeals suspended a ruling of the Stockholm arbitration court in a gas transit case with Ukraine. The company will use the decision as a ground to contest property seizure under the case in Switzerland and the Netherlands.

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