Sweden’s Svea District Court of Appeal upheld an earlier verdict by an arbitration court in Stockholm forcing Gazprom to pay the Ukrainian state-owned energy firm USD 2.56 billion amid a gas transit dispute, Poland’s energetyka24.com website reported on Wednesday.
It added that the Russian monopoly’s dues to Naftogaz have since grown to around USD 3 billion due to accumulating interest.
According to the Reuters news agency, Naftogaz in December 2017 secured a favourable decision on its demands that the price of Russian gas to Ukrainian consumers be reduced and the so-called take-or-pay requirement be cancelled.
A take-or-pay contract requires a buyer to pay for gas regardless of whether they take delivery or not, according to the energetyka24.com website.
The Swedish appeals court’s ruling came as Naftogaz and Gazprom are in talks on a possible extension to an existing gas supply deal that expires at the end of this year, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, Polish state-run oil and gas company PGNiG has told Russia’s Gazprom it does not plan to renew a long-term deal on gas imports when the contract expires at the end of 2022, according to a report earlier this month.
(gs/pk)
Source: energetyka24.com, Reuters