Jacek Sasin announced the move for arbitration on Thursday evening, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Sasin told public broadcaster TVP Info: “Europol Gaz, the company responsible for the transmission of gas, has lodged an arbitration suit against Gazprom over some PLN 850 million (EUR 187 million) in outstanding gas transmission charges.”
Sasin said that “since Gazprom has halted gas shipments through Poland,” the Polish government “is entitled to demand that this money be paid back.”
He added: “This arbitration suit also concerns Europol Gaz’s lost profits, estimated at over PLN 5 billion (EUR 1.1 billion), for the transmission of gas that the Russians had pledged to ship through Poland until 2045.”
Europol Gaz sues Gazprom for EUR 1.3 bn
Europol Gaz sued for arbitration before the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce on May 9, the PAP news agency reported.
The suit came after Gazprom ignored Europol Gaz’s call for the payment of over EUR 1.3 billion in outstanding and lost gas transmission fees, issued in late April, according to officials.
Europol Gaz’s shareholders are Poland’s state-run gas company PGNiG, part of the Orlen Group, with 48 percent; Gazprom with 48 percent; and PGNiG subsidiary Gas Trading, with 4 percent, the PAP news agency reported.
In November, the Polish government took Gazprom’s shares in Europol Gaz into administration, over Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to news outlets.
In May last year, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the imposition of Western sanctions on Moscow, Gazprom stopped shipping gas through the Yamal Europe pipeline, the PAP news agency reported.
Friday is day 450 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, rmf24.pl, tvp.info
