The International Court of Arbitration of the International Trade Center (ICC) in Switzerland has asked Russian gas giant Gazprom to stop litigating in Russian court to evade responsibility for arbitrarily stopping gas supplies via pipeline to Western companies in 2022 - Upstream reported.
In a statement released last weekend, Czech energy company CEZ said that after the appeal, the ICC ruled that Gazprom must comply with the arbitration clause in the CEZ contract.
Under the provision, all disputes between CEZ and Gazprom Export - a subsidiary of Gazprom - over gas supplies must be resolved through the ICC Arbitration Court.
Gazprom Export was a signatory to the pipeline gas supply contract with CEZ but unilaterally suspended it in 2022.
According to the Russian court's records, in response to CEZ's request for $44 million in compensation, Gazprom Export has filed a counter-suit with the St. Petersburg arbitration court. Petersburg.
At the hearing on May 24, the Russian court approved Gazprom's counter-suit, demanding CEZ withdraw from refereeing procedures ICC, otherwise facing a fine equivalent to the damage that the Czech company is asking the Russian company to pay.
Gazprom's lawsuits
Since the end of last year, Gazprom Export has filed 11 lawsuits with an arbitration court in St. Petersburg. Petersburg, Russia, against old customers in Europe.
The company has received eight written judgments, requiring European companies to temporarily suspend international arbitration proceedings or pay fines in Russia.
According to Russian court records, most European companies have ignored the Russian courts they were summoned for, except for German energy giant Uniper, which hired a Russian lawyer to appeal the ruling in March.
Uniper's $15.2 billion compensation request is currently the largest compensation of the total compensation for damages that European companies are filing in international arbitration courts in Switzerland, Sweden, France, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.
Poland's Europol Gaz is in second place with a compensation request of 1.45 billion USD.
Austrian gas producer and importer OMV ranked third with a compensation request of 625 million USD.
In addition to the three European companies, Gazprom has also received a similar order in St. Petersburg. Petersburg for Czech gas operator Net4Gas, Gasunie Transport Services and BBL Company of the Netherlands, and ZSE energy of Slovakia.
Three incidents in St. Petersburg Petersburg remains a pending settlement, with the hearings scheduled for in June against Engie of France, Swiss trading company DXT Commodities and Innogy energy of Slovakia. All three companies are suing Gazprom Export in court ICC.
In addition, Gazprom Export is also facing international arbitration lawsuits brought by Germany's RWE, Italy's Eni, Orlen Poland's PG Ni Ni Ni Ni NiG, Greece's DEPA, Slovenia's Petrol and Bulgaria's Bulgargaz.
Russia's argument
Of the eight judgments made, the St. Petersburg court ruled against the St. Petersburg court. Petersburg argues that Gazprom Export lawsuits should be transferred to Russia because the Russian company will not be able to have a fair trial in court in unfriendly countries.
In 2022, Moscow designated more than 50 foreign countries as unfriendly after it adopted widespread sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine.
The Russian court criticized Europe's sanctions, saying that Russian lawyers representing Gazprom in European hearings may face denials of entry visas, while their laptops and phones could be confiscated by authorities upon arrival.
