ICC

DEPA set to rebate customers for Botas legal battle cost

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Gas utility DEPA is preparing to rebate customers who had been burdened with costs linked to an older international court verdict against the utility in a now-resolved case with Botas, Turkey’s state-run crude oil and gas company.

The utility’s gas-supplier customers need support as they do battle amid toughened market conditions resulting from the coronavirus pandemic’s lockdown.

Earlier this month, on March 5, DEPA received a 230 million-euro retroactive sum from Botas after Stockholm’s ICC (International Court of Arbitration) vindicated the Greek utility in its overcharging case against the Turkish energy company.

The dispute began when DEPA claimed the Turkish company was overcharging the Greek utility for its purchases of Azerbaijani natural gas delivered through Turkish pipelines since 2011.

DEPA will draw from this 230 million-euro sum to rebate its customers. The utility has completed the initiative’s preparations and will start delivering payments next week, sources informed.

The biggest amount will go to customers who have supply contracts with DEPA, as they effectively took on the cost of a 180 million-euro amount paid by the utility to Botas as a result of an older unfavorable court decision against the Greek utility.

Some of DEPA’s customers had challenged this demand and avoided making payments. As a result, DEPA will be left with a considerable sum once all rebates have been made.

Thes leftover amount will prove useful as DEPA has take-or-pay clause payments to make to Botas and Gazprom for 2019.

Turkey’s Botas delivers ICC retroactive €200m sum to DEPA

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Turkey’s state-run crude oil and gas company Botas yesterday paid in full a retroactive sum to Greek gas utility DEPA following its recent legal victory at Stockholm’s ICC (International Court of Arbitration) in an overcharging case against the Turkish company, the Greek utility has announced.

The sum paid by Botas to DEPA, believed to exceed 200 million euros, settles a nine-year dispute.

The ICC verdict was delivered on January 10. Botas has since begun transmitting natural gas to DEPA at a lower price level, making the utility far more competitive. Its existing gas transmission contract with Botas expires in 2023.

The dispute began when DEPA claimed the Turkish company was overcharging the Greek utility for its purchases of Azerbaijani natural gas delivered through Turkish pipelines since 2011.

A considerable percentage of the amount paid by Botas to DEPA will be returned to the gas utility’s customers who, by extension, had been overcharged as a result of Botas’ inflated pricing policy. DEPA is expected to be left with a considerable amount, still undetermined.

The development comes as a boost for DEPA, whose privatization procedure has been launched.

“This is very good news coming at the most appropriate time now that the company’s privatization procedure is in progress,” noted deputy energy minister Gerassimos Thomas.

 

DEPA, rebounding in wholesale market, looks to capture 40%

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Gas utility DEPA appears set to regain lost ground in the wholesale market as a result of reduced gas prices negotiated over the past few months with international suppliers.

Talks for new deals between the company’s administration and customers, primarily electricity producers and retail gas firms, have indicated DEPA’s market share will increase this year.

DEPA expects a market share rise to a level of approximately 40 percent, up from 33 percent at the end of 2019.

The Greek gas utility recently renegotiated improved supply deals with Russia’s Gazprom and Algeria’s Sonatrach, while a favorable verdict by the ICC (International Court of Arbitration) in an overcharging case against Botas, Turkey’s state-run crude oil and gas company, came as an added boost. DEPA should receive a retroactive amount of around 200 million euros, according to an initial estimate.

DEPA’s revised Gazprom supply deal limits oil-indexed gas pricing to 60 percent of the total order. The other 40 percent will be priced in accordance with the Dutch gas trading platform TTF, one of Europe’s biggest hubs, where prices are significantly lower.

In mid-January, TTF price levels for LNG shipments in February were 14 euros per MW/h, including Greek gas grid entry costs, compared to over 20.5 euros per MW/h for pipeline gas, a 45 percent difference.

DEPA is currently also renegotiating the terms of its take-or-pay clause with Gazprom, requiring the Greek utility to absorb at least 80 percent of its annual contracted amount of 2 billion cubic meters, or 1.6 bcm.

As for Sonatrach, supplying LNG to DEPA, the Greek utility is believed to have reduced amounts and also achieved a discount.

DEPA’s contract with Gazprom, the utility’s biggest in terms of volume, runs until the end of 2026 with an option for a 10-year extension. ICC

The Greek gas utility’s second-biggest contract is with Azerbaijan’s Socar, running until 2040 for one bcm per year and a minimum level of 0.9 bcm. The Turkish Botas contact is DEPA’s third biggest, securing 0.75 bcm, annually, until 2021.

DEPA’s ICC victory over Botas promises wider boost for gas utility

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Considerable time will be needed before a precise retroactive payment amount can be determined for gas utility DEPA following a favorable verdict by the ICC (International Court of Arbitration) in an overcharging case against Botas, Turkey’s state-run crude oil and gas company.

An initial estimate has put the retroactive amount to be received by DEPA at around 200 million euros.

DEPA claimed the Turkish company has overcharged for purchases – by the Greek utility – of Azerbaijani natural gas delivered through Turkish pipelines since 2011.

Importantly, DEPA stands to secure more competitive purchase prices for Azerbaijani gas until 2023, when the Greek utility’s transmission contract with Botas is due to expire.

DEPA covers approximately 40 percent of the total amount of natural gas it trades through this supply source, meaning the ruling’s favorable impact will be significant.

Meanwhile, DEPA is currently seeking more favorable terms from its two other suppliers, Russia’s Gazprom and Algeria’s Sonatrach.

Improved terms and supply prices promise to help DEPA rebound from consistently contracting market shares as a result of tougher competition over the past two to three years. Better conditions also promise a market boost for the Greek gas utility ahead of its upcoming privatization.

 

DEPA wins Botas case at ICC, retroactive cash boost expected

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The ICC (International Court of Arbitration) has issued a favorable verdict for gas utility DEPA in a case against Botas, Turkey’s state-run crude oil and gas company, challenging price increases of Azerbaijan natural gas supplied to Greece by the Turkish firm since 2011, the Greek gas utility has announced.

DEPA took its case to the ICC seeking to have a previous ruling overturned. The resulting retroactive cash inflow for the Greek gas utility could be close to 200 million euros. Also, the ICC decision will secure DEPA a lower supply price from now on, enabling a favorable revision of the gas utility’s prices offered to customers.

The legal dispute between DEPA and Botas stretches back to 2008 and has produced a variety of intermediate situations and verdicts.

The latest round was initiated in August, 2016 when DEPA submitted a price-revision request to Botas for a lower gas supply price.

Additional court dispute between DEPA, Botas now awaiting verdict

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DEPA, the Public Gas Corporation, is awaiting an ICC (International Court of Arbitration) ruling on a case filed last month against Botas, Turkey’s state-run crude oil and gas company, challenging price increases of Azerbaijain natural gas supplied to Greece by the Turkish firm. Two legal disputes between the firms are now pending.

DEPA’s new legal case has requested an examination of natural gas price increases made by Botas in 2011 and 2016, following its alleged disregard of international market condition changes as of 2009.

DEPA is hoping for a reduction in the price of Azerbaijani natural gas supplied by Botas, which has delivered gas to the Greek market since 2003. The Greek gas company’s decision to take its case to the ICC was seen as the only remaining option following previous efforts to resolve the pricing dispute.

A court decision concerning an older dispute between the two sides is also pending.

The latest dispute is rooted in a Botas demand imposed on DEPA for a return of a 300 million-euro sum concerning price revision differences from as far back as 2008. DEPA  refused to pay this amount, prompting Botas to take legal action in 2011.

The Turkish firm was partially vindicated as the court set the amount to be returned by DEPA at just under 200 million euros. DEPA appealed this decision in 2016.