Russia, Ukraine View Stockholm Court's Ruling Differently, It Affects Gas Talks - Sefcovic

BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd January, 2019) European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic told reporters on Monday that different interpretations of the ruling of the Stockholm Arbitration Court by Russia and Ukraine affects talks on the future gas transit agreement.

"I think that one of the factors, which was clearly displayed also in today's discussion, was the ruling of the Stockholm Arbitration Court, which is, you know, viewed differently by the both sides, and both sides also approach differently the appeal procedure and enforcement of the ruling. And this is, of course, one of the issues, which brings a lot of additional legal elements in any discussion about the future contract," Sefcovic said after the trilateral gas transit consultations between Russia, Ukraine and the European Commission.

In late February, the Stockholm arbitration partially satisfied Naftogaz claims over what it said was the failure of the Russian energy company to supply agreed volumes of gas for transit, ordering Gazprom to pay $4.

63 billion to the Ukrainian firm. However, taking into account the amount of money previously awarded to Gazprom in relation with the gas supply contract, the mutual offset of liabilities resulted in Gazprom's obligation to pay $2.56 billion.

Gazprom filed an appeal to Sweden's Svea Court of Appeal, which ordered to suspend the execution of the arbitration court's ruling. Naftogaz tried to reverse this decision, but could not convince the judges and then initiated a new trial, in which the company was demanding that Gazprom revised gas transit tariffs in 2018-2019 and compensated the "arrears" of about $11.6 billion.