Ukraine expects Stockholm arbitration court to decide on price of Russian gas by summer 2015, says minister
Ukraine expects that the Stockholm Arbitration Institute will decide on the dispute between national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy and OJSC Gazprom (Russia) less than one year, Energy and Coal Industry Minister of Ukraine Yuriy Prodan has said.
"[A claim submitted to the arbitration court] could be heard up to one year. We believe that the arbitration court take into consideration the situation we have today. It could decide in a shorter period of time," he said in an interview with the Glavkom online publication.
He said that at present the routine procedure is underway: arbiter are being selected, the language of the arbitration hearings is being agreed – Russian or English - and lawyers from the both sides are working.
Prodan also said that Ukraine is ready to settle the issues of the prices of Russian gas for the country and the payment of Kyiv's debt for gas supplied earlier before the arbitration court issues a final decision.
"Of course, if there were a chance to agree [Russia tried to agree in similar arbitration litigations], we'll agree. We could agree it during trilateral talks. Our proposals were the following: until the arbitration is underway, let's find a compromise price which we use. We close payments under the agreed price. But we won’t buy gas at the increased price they proposed to us," the minister said.
As reported, Naftogaz Ukrainy CEO Andriy Kobolev on July 24 said that Naftogaz Ukrainy hopes that hearings in principle in claims against Russia's Gazprom at the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce will begin in the coming weeks.
Kobolev said that Naftogaz is doing its best to step up the process, while Gazprom uses the formally set terms for its actions, and these terms cannot be limited.
As reported, from April 2014 Russia increased the price of gas for Ukraine from $268.50 to $485.50 pre 1,000 cubic meters. Ukraine said that the country will not pay at such a high price. After the negotiations, in which Ukraine and Russia did not find a compromise, the sides of the conflict filed counter-claims to the Stockholm Arbitration Institute. Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko said that the claim of Naftogaz Ukrainy includes demands to compensate the over-payment of $6 billion in the previous years.
The European Commission has said it hopes that trilateral talks on gas supplies will be resumed in the near term.