Report: Gazprom, Saipem draft settlement of South Stream dispute

ROME, Apr 12 (PRIME) -- Russian gas giant Gazprom and Italy’s Saipem have drafted a peaceful settlement agreement in a cancelled gas pipeline South Stream dispute, Milano Finanza website reported on Friday, citing sources with knowledge of the details of negotiations.

Although the first meeting of the International Chamber of Commerce of Paris is scheduled for June, the companies plan to settle the conflict earlier. The signing of the deal will allow Gazprom to start new deals with Saipem.

Under the agreement, Gazprom will pay an undisclosed compensation to Saipem, and the Italian company will get access to Gazprom’s orders from 2020.

In December 2014, Russia decided to construct TurkStream, a gas pipeline to run to the Turkey–Greece border to replace South Stream, cancelled partially on E.U. requirement, which was supposed to carry Russian gas to Europe bypassing Ukraine.

Saipem was Gazprom’s partner under the South Stream project, and the company filed a suit to the International Chamber of Commerce of Paris against South Stream Transport B.V., affiliate of Gazprom which ran the project, seeking redemption of losses under the project, in 2015.

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