You're reading: Naftogaz signs contract with Norway’s Wikborg Rein to protect its interests in disputes with Gazprom

Naftogaz Ukrainy has signed a contract with Wikborg, Rein & Co DA Advokatfirma (Oslo, Norway), which will protect the rights and interests of the Ukrainian state holding in its dispute with Russia's Gazprom.

According to a report by the state holding on the Public Procurement
online portal, the contract worth 1.3 million euros (excluding VAT) was
signed by the parties on July 11, 2014.

From April 2014 Russia increased the price of gas for
Ukraine from $268.50 to $485.50 per 1,000 cubic meters. The Ukrainian
side responded that it would not pay such a high price. After
negotiations, in which Ukraine and Russia failed to reach compromise,
the parties filed mutual claims to the Stockholm Arbitration
Institution. According to Ukrainian Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko,
Naftogaz’s lawsuit contains a claim for the compensation of overpayment
in the amount of $6 billion for the previous periods.

The price increase is particularly due to the fact that Russia from
April 1, 2014 ceased to consider a discount of $100 per 1,000 cubic
meters, which is foreseen in the Kharkiv Agreements of 2010 in exchange
for a longer lease of the Black Sea Fleet base in Crimea, from which
Russia refused after the annexation of Crimea.