MOSCOW, October 31 (RIA Novosti) — Kiev expects the ruling of the Stockholm arbitration court on the lawsuit it filed against Gazprom in June to be ready by the end of 2015, the head of Ukrainian national oil and gas company Naftogaz said Friday.
"We expect the decision from Stockholm in the end of the next year. We are still awaiting the talks on summer [gas] price [to be held] next spring," Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolev said in an interview with the Ukrainian "1+1" channel.
Russian energy giant Gazprom switched Ukraine to a prepayment system for gas supplies in June over its major gas debt. Following the move, Naftogaz turned to the Stockholm arbitration court, requesting to review its contract with Gazprom and hoping to recover $6 billion in alleged overpayments. Meanwhile, Gazprom filed a lawsuit against Naftogaz with the same court in order to recover $4.5 billion in debt.
After months of negotiations, Russia, Ukraine and the European Union reached a temporary agreement Thursday on gas deliveries to Ukraine for the winter period. Ukraine agreed to pay $3.1 billion of its gas debt to Russia in two tranches before the end of the year, while Russia agreed to give Ukraine a $100 discount on the price it pays per 1,000 cubic meters of gas for the upcoming months.
