National joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy did not import natural gas under a control with Russia's PJSC Gazprom for three years – since November 26, 2015, buying gas only on the western border of the country.

As reported, the reason for Ukraine's refusal to buy gas at its eastern border at the end of 2015 was inconsistency in price. At the end of December 2017, the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce reviewed the formula in the contract signed between Naftogaz and Gazprom. According to the award of arbitration tribunal, the price of gas for Naftogaz is now equal to the price of gas at a hub in Germany, whereas previously it depended on the price of gas oil and fuel oil.

At the same time, on March 1, 2018, Gazprom refused to resume gas supplies to Ukraine, returning an advance payment of $127.624 million made by Naftogaz, violating the award of the Stockholm arbitration tribunal, which corrected pricing in the contract between the companies. The actions by Gazprom also made it impossible for Naftogaz to execute the award of the tribunal to purchase minimum annual gas volumes.

Naftogaz Ukrainy unites the largest oil and gas producing enterprises in the country. The holding is a monopolist for transit and storage of natural gas in underground storage facilities, as well as for oil transportation through the country.