Stockholm Arbitration to hand down award on UA-RU gas transit contract dispute in late Feb – Naftogaz CEO

CEO of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine Andriy Kobolyev says the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce is expected to hand down in late February its award on mutual claims of Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom and Naftogaz of Ukraine regarding the gas transit contract.

"We have recently communicated with the tribunal [the Stockholm Arbitration]. As far as we know, the tribunal is drafting its final decision. We were informed that the award on transit would be handed down in late February, that is before February 28," he told journalists.

At the same time, Kobolyev says he has positive expectations as for the award.

Read alsoNaftogaz expects to net penalties with Gazprom following Stockholm Arbitration awardsAs UNIAN reported earlier, The Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce has been considering the claims filed by Naftogaz on behalf of Ukraine against Russia's Gazprom regarding the transit of Russian gas to the EU through Ukraine and the purchase of Russian gas by Ukraine.

On December 22, Naftogaz received the final award of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce related to the gas purchase contract. Thus, the court satisfied a number of demands of the Ukrainian side, that is reduced the gas purchase price in the second quarter of 2014 to $352 per 1,000 cubic meters and rejected Russia's Gazprom take-or-pay claims amounting to $56 billion.

Read alsoNaftogaz chief says Gazprom’s gas price to be lower than European suppliers’According to the transit contract, which was signed in 2009, Gazprom was to transport via Ukraine 110 billion cubic meters of gas per year. Since the condition has not been met, Naftogaz demands that the court recover $16 billion in compensation from the Russian company.