Naftogaz ready to withdraw new claims against Gazprom in exchange for long-term contract

"To demonstrate our constructiveness, we said that we are ready to consider the possibility of receiving gas from Gazprom at the expense of the debt they have to pay off in line with the award of the previous Stockholm arbitration case ($3 billion)," Vitrenko said.

According to him, Naftogaz is ready to withdraw a new lawsuit against Gazprom.

"We are also ready to withdraw our new arbitration claims, but only if a long-term transit contract covering all costs is signed, and if Naftogaz gets compensation for Gazprom's failure to fulfil its obligations under current contracts," Vitrenko said.

On December 4, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine's conditions for Russian gas transit to Europe in 2020 were unacceptable.

Vitrenko said that Ukraine was introducing European methods for calculating the gas transit tariff, and the Ukrainian tariff cannot be considered overstated, as the Russian side sees it.

According to him, it was explained to the Russia side that it could turn to the operator or directly to Ukraine's regulator to justify the need for tariff reduction if the Ukrainian tariff is higher than the tariffs of alternative (competitive) gas pipelines, or if the tariff makes gas export unprofitable for Gazprom.

Thus, the Ukrainian side demonstrated its constructive approach to the extension of gas transit, which guarantees that this transit will be economically advantageous for all parties - Ukraine, Europe, and Russia, Vitrenko said.

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