Media: at Ukraine’s request shares of Nord Stream and Nord Stream-2 may be seized in European jurisdictions
Naftogaz of Ukraine has begun the process of recovery in the courts of the $2.6 billion debt of Russia’s gas conglomerate Gazprom in compliance with the decision of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, Interfax-Ukraine reports with reference to a source in the government.
It is noted that the legal process has been initiated in Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom under article 5 of the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards.
“Gazprom will certainly challenge the arrest [of property] in local courts. If the court refuses, then it will be possible to say that the arrest has been placed [on shares], " the source of Interfax-Ukraine said.
In addition, the arbitration process between Gazprom and the Naftogaz of Ukraine on the transit contract may affect the shares of Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 parent company. It is a question of imposing interim measures on the shares of Nord Stream AG and Nord Stream 2 AG. According to the source, the shares are already frozen.
The press service of Gazprom indicated that they are working on clarifying this issue. The representative of Nord Stream 2 is currently unavailable for comments.
In February 2018, the Stockholm Arbitration Court obliged Gazprom to pay the Ukrainian company Naftogaz US $4.63 billion for the pumping of 110 billion cubic meters of gas per year as envisaged in the transit contract. In December 2017, the Arbitration Court had awarded Gazprom US $2 billion in a dispute between the companies under a contract for gas supplies in 2009. This, after this amount was removed from the total, Naftogaz was to receive US $2.56 billion dollars from the Russian monopoly.
The Arbitration Court also ordered Gazprom to transport 110 billion cubic meters of gas per year through Ukraine until the end of the transit agreement in 2019, or else pay for the shortfall.