Bulgaria's Overgas Takes Gazprom to Court Over Gas Supply Halt
Bulgaria's natural gas provider Overgas has taken Russian gas giant Gazprom to arbitration court over the sudden halt to natural gas supplies to the private company as of Jan. 1, senior company officials said on Thursday.
Overgas Deputy Chief Executive Svetoslav Ivanov said the firm had taken Gazprom to court for violating a natural gas supply contract that was valid by the end of 2019.
"We are now in the beginning of the procedure and we have filed a claim at the arbitration court in Paris," Chief Executive Sasho Donchev told Reuters. "We will comment more once the case opens."
A spokeswoman for Gazprom Export, Gazprom's exporting arm, declined to comment.
Overgas, which supplies about 10 percent of Bulgaria's gas, has alerted the European Commission about the halt. An EU source has said Brussels was looking into the issue.
The European Commission is also looking into allegations that Gazprom abused its dominant position in the Bulgarian wholesale gas market.
The Bulgarian case increases pressure on Gazprom within the European Union, where it has already come under fire in eight countries for allegedly abusing its dominant position and overcharging customers
Overgas, which is 50 percent controlled by Gazprom and its export unit Gazprom Export, is currently supplying its clients by buying gas from state gas provider Bulgargaz.
Gazprom and its exporting arm have agreed to exit Overgas in a process that is expected to be finalised by June. An Overgas spokeswoman had said the problems around deliveries at the start of the year were probably linked to the pending shareholder changes.
(Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova, additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow)
