MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Sources told the Kommersant daily that, instead of compensating its European partners as it did in the past, Gazprom would now receive 800 million euros ($901 million) in retroactive payments from one of five EU firms partnering in the proposed Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
The payment from Germany’s E.ON covers the 2013-2015 period and is reportedly based on the fact that spot prices, which it was charged to purchase parts of Gazprom’s natural gas from 2012, periodically exceeded crude basket-linked prices.
Gazprom settled a similar dispute with France’s Engie this week, but the newspaper says neither party owes the other anything in retroactive payments.
Gas prices on the European market have been historically pegged to the price of oil or oil products until the 2008-2009 financial crisis led to the decrease in demand. Conversely, demand for spot gas trading increased in the European Union, leading EU firms to buy gas from Gazprom at oil price standards and resell it at lower spot prices.
All three companies are said to have declined to officially comment on the price formula changes.
