Naftogaz to close its representative office in Moscow

NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine has announced it will close its representative office in Russia by March 12, 2018.

"Under the minutes of a meeting of Naftogaz of Ukraine's supervisory board, the company's board has been instructed to take all necessary measures to liquidate (close) by March 12, 2018, the representative office of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine at 24 Academician Pilyugin Street, Moscow, Ukraine, under the laws of Ukraine and the Russian Federation," the company said in the Ukrainian National Securities and Stock Market Commission's information disclosure system.

"The decision to liquidate (close) of the representative office is made because the further existence of the representative office is inexpedient," it said.

Read alsoRussia's Gazprom officially informs Naftogaz about proceedings to terminate gas contractsAs UNIAN reported, Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom lost litigation with NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine in a Stockholm arbitration court, which ruled that Gazprom pay $2.56 billion to the Ukrainian company. At first, Gazprom agreed to supply 0.5 billion cubic meters of gas to Ukraine in March at the prices determined by the arbitration. However, it suddenly refused on March 1 to fulfill its contractual obligations and reduced the gas pressure at the entry point to Ukraine's gas transportation system (GTS) at the eastern border to a critical level.

Naftogaz says Gazprom's failure to fulfill the court's decision has led to a gas shortage in the GTS. To tackle the crisis, Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers imposed restrictions on domestic gas consumption, while Naftogaz went for an emergency purchase of 60 million cubic meters of gas from Poland's PGNiG.