RosUkrEnegro wins court claim

Last month the Stockholm arbitration tribunal awarded 50% Ukrainian-owned RosUkrEnergo the return of 11 bn cu m of gas from Ukrainian state oil and gas company Naftogas which must also pay a fine of 1.1 bn cu m of gas. RosUkrEnergo is jointly controlled by Russia’s Gasprom (50% of shares) and Austrian CentraGas Holding AG, owned by Ukrainian businessmen Dmitriy Firtash and Ivan Fursin.

RosUkrEnegro supplied Ukraine and other countries with Russian and central Asian gas before 2009. Last year the delivery scheme was changed and Naftogas refused to return to the company 11 bn cu m of gas held in Ukrainian subsurface storage. Four actions have been filed against state company by the Swedish court. Yuriy Boyko, Ukraine’s Minister of Fuel and Energy, initially reacted negatively to the verdict and declared that the Ukraine state was not allowed to give 11 bn cu m from the country’s reserves. He predicted that Ukraine would appeal the court’s decision.