Ukraine Naftogaz Wins Court Approval in Kazakhstan to Enforce $1.4 Billion Debt Against Gazprom

The Court of the Astana International Financial Centre in Kazakhstan recognized a Swiss arbitration ruling on May 20. This decision authorizes the forced collection of approximately $1.4 billion from Russia's Gazprom in favor of Ukraine's state energy company Naftogaz.

This marks the first public foreign judicial decision allowing the enforcement of an arbitration award against the Russian company within a specific country's jurisdiction.

The legal dispute stems from a 2019 contract regarding the transit of Russian natural gas through Ukrainian territory, which required Ukraine to organize gas transportation until the agreement expired on January 1, 2025.

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent occupation of Ukrainian territories, transit through the Sokhranivka, a gas metering station located on the border between the Luhansk region of Ukraine and the Rostov region of Russia, entry point became impossible in May 2022.

While the Ukrainian side continued to provide transit services through the Sudzha point, a key gas metering station located on the border between the Sumy region of Ukraine and the Kursk region of Russia, Gazprom refused to fully pay for the gas transportation.

In September 2022, Naftogaz filed a lawsuit in international arbitration in Switzerland. In June 2025, the arbitration tribunal placed full responsibility for the contract violation on Gazprom, ordering the Russian company to pay the outstanding debt, interest, and arbitration expenses.

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In January 2026, the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland rejected an appeal by Gazprom against this decision. Because the Russian entity failed to voluntarily comply with its obligations, Naftogaz began asset recovery procedures across multiple foreign jurisdictions.

"The decision of the court in Kazakhstan is another practical result in the process of recovering funds from Gazprom. We are consistently moving forward and working on enforcing the arbitration decision in various jurisdictions," stated the Chairman of the Board of Naftogaz.

In March 2026, Ukraine’s state energy company Naftogaz entered early discussions with Romania’s OMV Petrom regarding a potential partnership to develop offshore gas reserves in the Black Sea.

The talks focused on a promising gas field discovered by Naftogaz before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, situated close to Romanian offshore blocks where seismic surveys had already been partially completed.

While Ukraine sought advanced deep-water extraction technology through this cooperation, industry sources noted that the development of the field was not expected to begin until after the war ended.

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