The arbitration procedure for the lawsuit against the country by Greek Hellenic Petroleum, as Vice Prime Minister Kocho Angjushev informed today, has been temporarily suspended with hope and opportunity to reach an agreement. The solution to the requirement to put the pipeline into operation will be sought within the Energy Community.
According to Angjushev, the state is trying to maximally reduce the damage it could suffer from a lawsuit seeking Hellenic Petroleum to claim $ 32 million in penalties for breach of the OKTA agreement. Our position within the current good neighborly relations with Greece is to try to use that format and to reduce as much as possible the damage that our state could suffer, ie to maximally reduce the funds that are based on that agreement as penalties should be paid, Angjushev said, answering a journalist question at a press conference in the government.
The deal, deputy prime minister reminded, contains more clauses for oil pipeline construction co-operation, and one of the key is that the state has committed to spend 500,000 tonnes of fuel oil annually and if it does not pay penalties of $ 29 per tonne. On the basis of that dispute our state has already lost one verdict for the period of 2007, in 2013 OKTA unilaterally stopped working and producing, but for the period 2007 to 2013 there is a new lawsuit. It is good for citizens and society to know that the state is facing a $ 32m lawsuit as a penalty, demanded by Hellenic Petroleum on the basis of that agreement, Angjushev said.
He noted that all options were also being considered for the Greek side’s request to put the pipeline built under the Treaty into operation, with a 2007 arbitration ruling ruling that 20 per cent were state-owned and the remaining 80 per cent Hellenic Petroleum. .
That, according to Angjushev, would be done in the framework of the third set of European energy directives, according to which there should be competitiveness for any infrastructure energy facility.We cannot say that the pipeline does not exist, we cannot behave like ostriches in the sand and say that it does not exist, but on the contrary we have to solve problems as they are.If it can help the oil derivatives in our country to get cheaper and reduce the price of the oil derivatives for the citizens, let’s do it, but within the third package of European energy directives where any energy infrastructure project should competitiveness applies. This means that everyone should have access to that infrastructure. The Energy Regulatory Commission will determine the cost of using the infrastructure facility, Angjushe said.
In addition, it was requested that the dispute be resolved within the Energy Community in Vienna, where there is a mediation department that will ensure that the process is resolved and fair and in line with European legislation.There is no agreement currently, but we are trying to find a solution, we are discussing it, but I cannot say that we have a certain positive or negative conclusion. When a solution or agreement is reached it will be announced. We have two choices: either we will settle the dispute out of court by reaching an agreement or the arbitration proceeding that Hellenic Petroleum is entitled to will continue. Before the arbitration, there is currently a halt to the procedure with the hope and possibility of reaching an agreement. If an agreement is reached, if it is not reached, they have the right to the procedure and it will continue, Angjushev said.
The procedure, he said, was halted until late April or early May.