REUTERS
The top manager says the Stockholm arbitration award only improved "the balance between the parties."
Executive Director of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine Yuriy Vitrenko says that over 10 years when a natural gas contract between Ukraine and Russia was in effect, Gazprom has obtained US$46.6 billion more from sales of gas to Ukraine than it has paid for transit via the Ukrainian gas transportation system.
"We've prepared several vivid estimates for 2009-2018 (i.e. for full years for the entire period of the contract, and this is already taking into account the previous arbitration award) for new arbitration hearings. US$46.6 billion is the amount by which Gazprom received more from the sale of gas to Ukraine than Ukraine was paid for transit. So in whose favor is the 'balance in relations?'" Vitrenko said on Facebook on November 4 in a comment to Gazprom's allegations that Naftogaz's claims "break the balance" of the two companies' relations.
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According to him, if gas had been sold at a price that would have given Gazprom similar profit from selling gas to Germany and Ukraine, the difference would have been a mere US$13 billion, that is, almost 75% less.
"That difference estimated at US$33.6 billion between what is and what should have been equals to about a quarter of Ukraine's GDP ... I would like to hope that looking at these figures it will become clear that the previous Stockholm arbitration awards have only improved the 'balance' in relations between the parties' without violating it in favor of Ukraine," Vitrenko said.
He explained that the take-or-pay rule was not in line with European competition law. Gazprom was able to sell excess volumes of Russian gas, which was unnecessary to Ukraine, to Europe, while Naftogaz was banned from re-exporting them. Meanwhile, the right to use the gas transit capacities that Naftogaz provided to Gazprom could not be resold to anyone.
"That is, for us it's an irrevocable loss when we provided the capacities to Gazprom, but it didn't pay for them. However, Gazprom could have loaded these capacities in full – but it opted for limiting transit deliberately to reduce the total supply gas onto the European market, seeking higher prices," Vitrenko wrote.
As UNIAN reported earlier, hearings on Gazprom's appeal against the arbitration award to cancel the take-or-pay rule ended in Stockholm on October 18, which freed Ukraine from an obligation to pay Gazprom US$80 billion.
At the end of February 2018, Gazprom lost a lawsuit with Naftogaz in the Stockholm arbitration court under a gas transit contract, under which the Russian company should pay US$4.6 billion to the Ukrainian side. Given the arbitration award on a gas supply contract, the final amount of the settlement between the two companies is US$2.6 billion in favor of Naftogaz.
In March 2018, Gazprom officially notified Naftogaz that it was refusing to comply with the arbitration award.