THE SLOVAK gas utility Slovenský Plynárenský Priemysel (SPP) has withdrawn its complaint at the arbitration court of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris in which it requested compensation from the Russian gas concern Gazprom for the cut-off in gas supplies to Slovakia at the beginning of 2009, the SITA newswire reported on April 6. The complaint was registered at the arbitration court in December 2009.
The official withdrawal comes shortly after information about an out-of-court settlement between SPP and Gazprom was published in the media. The Russian media reported that Gazprom agreed on lowering the volume of gas which SPP is required buy on the principle of take-or-pay by 10 percent for two years. The volume of gas purchased in the next four years should increase by 5 percent. The deal may cost Gazprom around $180 million per year, SITA wrote.
Neither Gazprom nor SPP commented on the information.
Slovakia was hit hard by the gas crisis at the beginning of 2009 after a conflict between Kiev and Moscow which resulted in Gazprom’s stopping gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine. As a result Slovakia did not receive about 300 million cubic metres of gas, worth almost $100 million.
