U.S. federal courts in New York and Texas have satisfied Naftogaz's actions seeking information on Gazprom's assets in Europe.
On December 6, Naftogaz filed actions in U.S. federal courts in New York and Texas in connection with its ongoing efforts to enforce a $2.6 billion arbitration award against Gazprom, requesting five U.S. based companies to disclose information on Gazprom's assets in Europe, according to Naftogaz press service.
Naftogaz's actions seek information from the following companies:
- GLAS Americas LLC, a finance-administration firm that is likely to have information about the location of Gazprom's shares in its wholly owned Swiss subsidiary Nord Stream 2 AG. Naftogaz seeks information about the location of the Nord Stream 2 shares in order to file an action in Switzerland to attach them.
- Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, the U.S. correspondent bank for the Moscow-headquartered bank Gazprombank, where Gazprom maintains an account. Gazprombank has a Swiss affiliate, Gazprombank (Switzerland) Ltd. Naftogaz seeks information from Deutsche Bank about Gazprom's transactions with Gazprombank (Switzerland) Ltd. – including account numbers – in order to file an action in Switzerland seeking to attach the funds in those accounts.
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- Bank of New York Mellon, the manager of Gazprom's American Depository Receipt program. Bank of New York is likely to have information about the recent transfers that Gazprom made of its shares in certain of its Dutch subsidiaries. Naftogaz seeks this information in order to file an action in the Netherlands against Gazprom for fraudulent conveyance. Bank of New York is also likely to have information about the location of the Nord Stream 2 shares and information about Gazprom's bank accounts in Switzerland. Naftogaz seeks this information for the attachment actions that it is preparing to file in Switzerland.
- DeGolyer & MacNaughton, an oil and gas consultancy that serves as auditor of Gazprom's oil and gas reserves and is likely to have information about Gazprom's upstream oil and gas projects, the corporate structure of those projects, and any plans to change the ownership structure of those projects. Naftogaz seeks this information for the fraudulent conveyance action that is preparing to file in the Netherlands.
- Gazprom Marketing & Trading USA Inc., an indirect subsidiary of Gazprom likely to have information about the recent transfers that Gazprom made of its shares in certain of its Dutch subsidiaries, about Gazprom's bank accounts in Switzerland, and about the location of Gazprom's shares in Nord Stream 2. Naftogaz seeks this information for the actions described above that is preparing to file in both the Netherlands and Switzerland.
Naftogaz's requests to seek discovery of GLAS Americas, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas and Bank of New York have already been granted. Naftogaz is preparing to serve these companies with subpoenas in the coming days.