ST. PETERSBURG: The Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region upheld Gazprom Export's claim against German traders...
ST. PETERSBURG: The Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region upheld Gazprom Export's claim against German traders Uniper Global Commodities SE and Meta-Methanhandel GmbH for a ban on continuing proceedings in international arbitration, a TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom.
In case of violation of the ban, the court ruled to recover 14.3 billion euros from German companies in favor of Gazprom.
Earlier it was reported that Gazprom Export demands that foreign traders be prohibited from continuing proceedings in international commercial arbitration and that funds be recovered from them in case of failure to comply with a judicial act.
Lawyers for Gazprom Export stated the impossibility of equal adversarial participation in foreign arbitration due to sanctions against Russia and Russian companies, as well as due to the lack of complete freedom to choose legal services, since some European law firms publicly announced their refusal to work with companies from Russia.
About legal dispute
In late November 2022, it became known that the German concern Uniper filed a lawsuit against Gazprom Export to compensate for losses incurred from the short supply of Russian gas. Uniper then estimated the current costs of replacing Russian gas at no less than 11.6 billion euros. The Russian company, in turn, stated that it was studying the received statement of claim from Uniper, but did not recognize the violation of contracts and the legality of the German company’s stated claims for damages.
Uniper considered the force majeure declared by Gazprom on gas supplies to be a violation of the contract. Since the end of August 2022, the German concern has completely stopped receiving gas from Russia and considers this a violation of contractual obligations on the part of Gazprom. Uniper stated that it does not expect the resumption of Russian gas supplies and is awaiting a decision in the court case with Gazprom Export due to their termination in 2024.
Previously, Gazprom also filed lawsuits in the Russian court against the Polish Orlen, the Dutch gas transport company Gasunie Transport Service (GTS), the Czech NET4GAS, Naftogaz of Ukraine and the Polish-Russian company Europol GAZ, which owns the Polish section of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline, demanding prohibit the continuation of arbitration proceedings in foreign courts. For the last three lawsuits, the Russian company achieved a ban on the continuation of arbitration, for the lawsuit against GTS, the court hearing is scheduled for March 15, for Orlen - for April 10.
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