Naftogaz announces arrest of all shares of Turkish Stream operator

The Amsterdam District Court on October 23 arrested a 100% stake in South Stream Transport B.V., engaged in construction of the Turkish Stream, the executive director of Naftogaz of Ukraine Yuriy Vitrenko said on Facebook.

Report informs citing Kommersant that, according to Vitrenko, the decision was made within the case of “fraudulent actions” of Gazprom, which transferred 100% of the shares in South Stream to its subsidiary Gazprom transgaz Krasnodar "a day before the bailiffs began to freeze Gazprom's assets” in the Netherlands in the suit of Naftogaz. Naftogaz did not recognize this deal because it believed that it was conducted in order to avoid the seizure of assets.

As part of the dispute between Gazprom and Naftogaz, the Stockholm arbitration obliged the Russian company to pay $2.56 billion for non-compliance with the terms for the minimum gas pumped through Ukraine in 2009. In response, Gazprom threatened to terminate the contracts with Naftogaz. The company also appealed the court ruling. Naftogaz said the courts in the Netherlands and Luxembourg dismissed Gazprom's appeals.

The contract between Gazprom and the Ukrainian Naftogaz expires on December 31, 2019. During the talks at the end of September, Russia, Ukraine and the EU agreed that the future gas transit from 2020 could be organized under the European law if Kiev manages to implement its provisions by December 1. Next talks are due to take place on October 28.