Naftogaz Ukrainy says not to abandon suits against Gazprom

KIEV, Aug 3 (PRIME) -- Ukrainian energy holding Naftogaz Ukrainy does not plan to withdraw its claims and recall suits filed against Russian gas giant Gazprom, CCO Yury Vitrenko said on his Facebook page on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Anastasia Fyodorova, a deputy director of the information and press department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said that Russia could keep the transit of natural gas through Ukraine if Kiev offers competitive transit prices and eliminates transit risks, including the lifting of all claims and rejection of suits against Gazprom.

“Our response is that no one will lift claims and cancel the absolutely justified suits against Gazprom. Our suit in the Stockholm Arbitration Court on the gas supply contract was deemed reasonable, and our claims were satisfied. Though we were told that we have no chances and we will lose. Our suit on the transit contract is no less reasonable. We’ve won one suit and we expect to win the second one,” Vitrenko said.

Previously, Naftogaz Ukrainy said that a May 31 decision of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce includes calculation principles for retroactive compensation for overpayments for natural gas and the price that should he applied to gas received by the company but for which it had not paid fully.

The company also said that if Gazprom and Naftogaz Ukrainy fail to agree on formulas and the sums of the claims, the arbitration court will make a final decision on the matter.

But Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller earlier said Naftogaz Ukrainy should pay U.S. $1.7 billion to Gazprom under the court decision.

But Naftogaz Ukrainy said that the court ordered the companies to agree on the sums of the claims, and the companies were discussing them.

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