RWE gets out of Gazprom fines

The Czech RWE Transgas utilities company has won a landmark case against the Russian Gazprom gas exporter over the “take-or-pay” clause in the two companies’ gas importing contracts. The “take-or-pay” clause that Gazprom has in most of their contracts stipulates that customers must buy a minimum amount of gas or pay fines. The arbitration court in Vienna ruled that RWE does not have to pay the 500 thousand US dollars Gazprom wants for their failure to pay take-or-pay fines in the years 2008-2011. This decision may prompt other dissatisfied European customers of Gazprom to challenge the take-or-pay claims from the Russian gas giant.

Author: Jan Velinger