The legal services shall be provided until the end of 2019 / Photo from UNIAN
Ukraine has been working with the law company since 2014.
NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine has concluded a EUR 14 million contract with Norway's Wikborg Rein Advokatfirma AS for litigation with Russia's Gazprom.
Ukraine's public procurement system ProZorro says that under the contract, the company from Norway will defend the rights and interests of Ukraine in the Naftogaz-Gazprom dispute.
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The contract states legal services shall be provided until the end of 2019, and the cost of the entire contract is EUR 14 million.
The contract stipulates hourly payment for foreign lawyers' services. For example, an hour of work of a partner and senior consultant costs EUR 475 per hour, and fees of other lawyers range from EUR 260 to EUR 350 per hour.
As was earlier reported, the Stockholm Arbitration on February 28, 2018, ruled that Gazprom should pay Naftogaz more than $4.6 billion for the short supply of gas for transit provided for in bilateral agreements. Earlier, the court confirmed the Ukrainian company's $2 billion debt for consumed Russian gas. As a result of two arbitration disputes between the companies regarding the supply and transit of gas, Gazprom shall pay $2.56 billion to Naftogaz.
In early March 2018, Gazprom warned about the beginning of the termination of bilateral agreements with the Ukrainian side.
In July 2018, Naftogaz lodged a second lawsuit against Gazprom with the Stockholm Arbitration. The Ukrainian company demands that the Russian company revise gas transit tariffs set in March 2013, and pay $12.5 billion in debt. Russia's Gazprom, in turn, filed a lawsuit for termination of the gas transit contract with Naftogaz. The Stockholm Arbitration combined both claims into one case.
Litigation to seize Gazprom's assets is under way in England, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Among the assets of interest to the Ukrainian side are shares of companies that operate the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines.
Every day of delay in the payment of the award adds $0.5 million to Gazprom's debt before Naftogaz, which amounted to $2.7 billion as of the end of November 2018.
UNIAN memo. Wikborg Rein has represented customers' interests in the energy sector in more than 20 gas arbitration proceedings, as well as in about 40 official talks on gas price reviews since 2001. The company also has a successful track record of cases against Gazprom. In particular, Wikborg Rein accompanied the arbitration proceedings in the case of RWE CZ against Gazprom Export. The case was over in 2013 with a ruling in favor of RWE. The company also has considerable experience in the out-of-court settlement of gas price disputes. Naftogaz has been cooperating with the company since 2014.