French energy giant sues Gazprom

French utilities company Engie announced on Tuesday it has initiated an arbitration procedure against Russia’s Gazprom over its non-compliance with gas delivery obligations. The Paris-based firm said it wanted payment of contractual penalties as well as compensation for damages resulting from the supply halt.

Gazprom said it stopped natural gas deliveries in August after the French side failed to pay for July deliveries in full.

“This arbitration procedure is due to the significant delivery shortages by Gazprom Export LLC to Engie as of mid-June 2022, followed by Gazprom Export LLC’s unilateral decision at the end of summer 2022 to reduce its deliveries to Engie due to a disagreement between the parties…” the company stated in its annual report.

In August, Gazprom announced that it had cut off gas supplies to the French firm, which had failed to pay for July gas deliveries in full. Gazprom informed Engie that it would cease the gas deliveries starting September 1 until the moment it gets the payment for the already supplied gas. Making any further gas deliveries without receiving a full payment for the previous supply is impossible under Russian law.

Meanwhile, Engie said last autumn that it had managed through disruptions to Russian gas flows with no implication on physical supply, including LNG.

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