Naftogaz: amicable agreement with Gazprom impossible

An amicable agreement between Naftogaz Ukrainy and Gazprom is only possible for complaints recently lodged at the Stockholm Arbitration and would consist of an out-of-court payment by the Russian gas giant of over $12 billion in compensation, Naftogaz Commercial Director Yuriy Vitrenko said.

"As we told Gazprom at the trilateral meeting, an amicable agreement for rulings already handed down by the arbitration court is not possible," he wrote on Facebook.

Vitrenko said that in addition to arbitration proceedings which already have rulings, Naftogaz has new arbitration hearings: the Russian company is demanding that current contracts be terminated or changed and Naftogaz - compensation for losses due to Gazprom's failure fulfill its contractual obligations, including arbitration rulings.

"The amount of compensation that we are demanding from Gazprom in the new arbitration hearing is already over $12 billion. Our demands are valid, we are confident in our legal position. If Gazprom wants an amicable agreement for these new arbitration proceedings, it can pay us this compensation out-of-court," Interfax cited Vitrenko as saying.