Ukraine's Naftogaz is looking for assistance of US courts in dispute with Russian Gazprom
Naftogaz of Ukraine appealed to the courts of the Northern and Southern districts of Texas with claims against the American division of Gazprom Marketing & Trading (GM&T USA, subsidiary of the Gazprom group) and consulting company DeGolyer & MacNaughton (lead auditor of oil and gas refineries), Kommersant reported.
The newspaper reported that Naftogaz requested the court to oblige the respondents to provide information and access to documents that will allow the Ukrainian company to file a new lawsuit in the Netherlands. In this lawsuit, Naftogaz plans to challenge the deal under which Gazprom transferred to its Russian subsidiary the shares of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline operator registered in the Netherlands, depriving the Ukrainian side of the opportunity to seize these assets.
In February, the Stockholm Arbitration Court ordered Gazprom to pay $ 2.6 billion to Naftogaz. Since summer, the Ukrainian company has been trying to collect this debt from Gazprom through arbitration courts in Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. In the latter case, Naftogaz is seeking to seize the shares of seven companies belonging to Gazprom, including the operator of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline which is currently under construction.