Engie demands the payment of fines under the contract and compensation for losses caused by Gazprom’s non-fulfillment of agreements.

The French energy company Engie has initiated arbitration proceedings against Gazprom Export LLC, seeking, in particular, recognition of non-fulfillment of gas supply obligations under long-term contracts.

As the Russian “Interfax” reports, the review was initiated at the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2022.

Engie demands the payment of fines under the contract and compensation for losses caused by Gazprom’s non-fulfillment of agreements.

“This arbitration procedure is related to a significant undersupply by Gazprom Export to Engie as of mid-June 2022, which was followed by a unilateral decision by Gazprom Export at the end of summer 2022 to reduce supplies to Engie due to disagreements between the parties,” it said. in the document.

Gazprom and Engie

Engie is a French energy industrial group. In 2015, it was the third largest global group in the energy sector, excluding oil. Its main shareholder is the state of France, which has 23.64% of the capital and 33.84% of the voting rights.

Starting from September 1, 2022, Gazprom suspended the pumping of gas to Engie due to non-payment of July deliveries in full.

“According to the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of March 31, 2022, No. 172 “On a special procedure for the fulfillment of obligations by foreign buyers to Russian suppliers of natural gas” (payment for gas in Russian rubles – ed.), further supply of natural gas to a foreign buyer is prohibited, if in the contractual the payment deadline was not fulfilled by the buyer in full,” Gazprom said in a statement.

Lawsuits against Gazprom

On December 5, 2022, the German energy company RWE initiated arbitration proceedings against Russia’s Gazprom due to the lack of gas supply.

The German energy giant, the largest gas importer, Uniper, has initiated arbitration proceedings against Gazprom Export LLC at the International Arbitration Tribunal in Stockholm and is demanding compensation for damages due to undersupply of gas from June 2022.

On February 9, 2023, the largest company in Europe sued Gazprom. The Czech company ČEZ has initiated arbitration proceedings against the Russian Gazprom. The company demanded compensation of 1 billion Czech crowns (45.3 million dollars) due to undersupply of gas.

The war in Ukraine and the gas situation

On September 28, 2022, EU countries demanded an immediate cap on gas prices.

On October 1, Gazprom cut gas supplies to Moldova by 30%. On November 1, 2022, Gazprom stopped supplying gas to Italy.

As of December 1, 2022, Gazprom has cut gas exports to EU countries by almost half.

On January 4, 2023, the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine fell to a historic low.

On February 21, 2023, Gazprom increased gas pumping through Ukraine to the annual maximum.