REUTERS
Polish Gas and Oil Company PGNiG has submitted to the Stockholm Arbitration Tribunal a lawsuit against Russian energy giant Gazprom and Gazprom Export.
The issue in dispute is the pricing of a long-term contract for the purchase of natural gas dated September 25, 1996, Russian news Web site Lenta.ru reported, with reference to a PGNiG statement.
According to the company, the amount of claims and the period for consideration have not been specified at this stage of the trial.
"The talks with our Russian partner have not yielded results that would be acceptable to PGNiG," the company said in its statement.
"Therefore, like other European companies, PGNiG has decided to exercise its rights under the contract."
PGNiG Chairman of the Board Mariusz Zawisza said that despite filing a lawsuit to the court, the company is "still open to dialogue with his business partner."
According to him, PGNiG is ready to conclude an agreement which will guarantee the company and its clients a favorable price based on the market realities.
As stated by Gazprom Export, "there is no sensation, arbitration is envisaged by standard contracts, and negotiations continue as ususal."
Officially, Gazprom Export and Gazprom have not commented on the issue, according to Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
Earlier, PGNiG sent to Gazprom a request for a revision of the price of gas supplied to the country in the framework of the Yamal agreement. The company made such decision "based on significant changes that have taken place in the European energy market in recent years."
In response, Gazprom offered Poland "special conditions" for gas supplies to PGNiG oil and gas company. The specific price of the commodity for the Polish side is not known.
Under the current contract, Russia is to export 10.2 billion cubic meters of gas annually to Poland until 2022 on a "take or pay" basis. Total consumption volumes in Poland amount to about 14 billion cubic meters.