Naftogaz awaits cancelling of take-or-pay principle in the gas contract by arbitration court

A. Kobolev, the Chairman of Management Board of Naftogaz Ukraine hopes that the Stockholm Arbitration Court will cancel the take-or-pay principle in the contract with Gazprom. In his opinion, even if the clause is prolonged, theminimal rate of gas purchase by the Ukraine should be considerably reduced.

‘We are going just to remove the clause. In 2013, Gazprom sold via another intermediary, Ostchem of D. Firtash, 12 billion cubic m of gas to the Ukrainian market by quite another price. How can we speak about take-or-pay principle if Gazprom offers at one and the same market one price to Naftogaz Ukraine and a much lower price to another dealer?’ he says in the interview to the Russian Vedomosti.