Court obliges Naftogaz to return 4.7 bcm of gas to gas transport system under claim of Ukrtransgaz

The economic court in Kyiv has obliged national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy to return over 4,751,445,862 cubic meters of natural gas, which in 2007-2008 were illegally sold by the state holding, to the Ukrainian gas transport system under a claim of public joint-stock company Ukrtransgaz.

The decision is stipulated in a court ruling of April 25, 2013, a copy of which has been sent to Interfax-Ukraine.

"According to the petitioner, the defender in Q4, 2007, Q1-Q2, 2008 sold 4,751,445,862 cubic meters to some categories of consumers, including via the Gaz Ukrainy subsidiary, without confirming that it had these stocks of natural gas," reads the document.

Most of the gas volume was a resource of CJSC UkrGaz-Energo, which was the only company that bought imported gas on the Ukrainian border.

In November-December 2007 Naftogaz Ukrainy pumped 3,666,026,032 cubic meters of gas from the Ukrainian gas transport system and sold it to consumers via Gaz Ukrainy.

"The proofs of purchase of imported gas on the Ukrainian border in November-December 2007 by other companies are absent in the materials of the case. The court has come to the conclusion that CJSC UkrGaz-Energo was the only company from which Naftogaz Ukrainy could buy natural gas to satisfy the needs of the above-mentioned categories of consumers," reads the document.

"Taking into account the said circumstances and Ukrainian law, the court believes that the fact that the defender, along with a deficit of natural gas of 3,666,026,032 cubic meters, had an additional deficit of natural gas of 1,085,419,730 cubic meters, which totals 4,751,445,862 cubic meters of natural gas that was not covered, has to be covered by the defender due to the above-mentioned circumstances," reads the ruling.

As reported, the Kyiv Economic Court of Appeals on October 25, 2012 upheld the trial court's decision on recognizing CJSC UkrGaz-Energo's (Kyiv) ownership of 4,862,131,000 cubic meters of gas stored in Ukrtransgaz's underground gas storage facilities. According to the document, UkrGaz-Energo's gas is stored in Ukrtransgaz's storage facilities on the basis of an agreement of March 15, 2006.

UkrGaz-Energo was established in February 2006 in fulfilment of Russian-Ukrainian agreements to organize a new system for supplying Ukraine with Central Asian and Russian Gas, which were reached in Moscow on January 4, 2006. Gazprom, Naftogaz and RosUkrEnergo AG struck an agreement to create a joint venture for sales within Ukraine of natural gas from Russia - that is, all of the gas supplied to Ukraine. Naftogaz and RosUkrEnergo got 50% each of the company's shares.

At the beginning of 2008, Naftogaz and Gazprom agreed to make changes to the existing scheme of Central Asian and Russian gas supplies to Ukraine, excluding UkrGaz-Energo from that scheme.