The key facts

  • The TurkStream operator's lawsuit was received by the Arbitration Court of the Moscow Region on November 5
  • The defendants are the Dutch Gasunie Transport Services and Naftogaz of Ukraine; Gazprom is named as a third party
  • A hearing is scheduled for December 1; the substance of the corporate dispute has not been disclosed

Lawsuit in arbitration court

South Stream Transport B. V. (SST), the operator of the TurkStream gas pipeline, has filed a lawsuit against the Dutch gas transmission company Gasunie Transport Services (GTS) and Naftogaz of Ukraine. This is evidenced by data from the arbitration case registry, which TASS cites in its report Gazeta.Ru. The statement of claim was received by the Arbitration Court of the Moscow Region on November 5, and a hearing in the case is scheduled for December 1. Gazprom is listed in the case as a third party. The substance of SST's claims is not yet known; the lawsuit has been classified as a corporate dispute.

Context of supplies and re-registration

The lawsuit emerged against the backdrop of reports of declining supplies: according to Vedomosti, cited by Gazeta.Ru, at the end of September gas supplies to the European Union via TurkStream fell by roughly a quarter compared with the end of August — on September 29, about 32 million cubic meters of gas entered through the Strandzha 2/Malkoclar point on the Turkish-Bulgarian border, which is 25% below the levels of late August. The publication linked this decline to the license revocation by the Netherlands. Earlier, according to Gazeta.Ru, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said the operator of TurkStream was relocating to Hungary. The publication does not confirm any connection between the new lawsuit and these events — this remains a matter of editorial comparison of facts, not an established circumstance.