Poland's state gas company PGNiG has announced that it has won an arbitral case against Russia’s Gazprom on the matter of gas prices and expects some $1.5 billion to be paid back by the Russian company in accordance with the ruling by Stockholm's arbitration court.
"Stockholm's arbitration court had made a final ruling in an arbitral case of PGNiG against Gazprom and Gazprom Export regarding the decrease in contractual price for gas delivered by Gazprom under the natural gas sale-and-purchase contract, signed on September 25, 1996", the company's statement read.
According to the company's statement, the ruling changed the formula for the gas purchases for the period between November 2014 and February 2020, taking into consideration its "direct link to natural gas market listing on the European energy market". The recalculation of the formula means that Gazprom owes $1.5 billion to PGNiG for the latter overpaying for gas deliveries during that period, the company said.
Gazprom confirmed that the Stockholm arbitration court has issued a ruling in the case and added that the company is currently examining the document. The Russian gas company refused to comment on PGNiG’s expectation of $1.5 billion in compensation based on the court's ruling.
Gazprom delivers up to 10 billion cubic metres of gas per year to Poland under the 1996 contract, which lasts until 2022. The Russian giant reduced the gas price under the contract by 10% back in 2012, but in 2015 Poland demanded that it be slashed even more and filed the arbitral case in Stockholm, claiming that the price was inconsistent with the state of the energy market.
The Stockholm arbitration court issued a partial ruling on the case in July 2018, which both sides to the conflict interpreted as being in their favour.