Jan 2 (Portal) – A Russian court has ordered nearly $500 million in assets of German industrial gases company Linde (LIN.N) to be frozen at the request of a Russian joint venture building a gas complex in the Baltic Sea port of Ust- Luga, court documents showed on Monday.
RusKhimAlyans, the joint venture 50% owned by Russia’s Gazprom (GAZP.MM), applied to the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region for Linde assets worth 35 billion rubles ($488 million dollars) as a preventative measure.
In 2021, Linde and Renaissance Heavy Industries signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Gazprom and its partners for the Ust-Luga gas complex. Linde informed the customer in May and June 2022 that it had suspended work under contract due to European Union sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to the document, RusKhimAlyans claims that the EU sanctions ban the supply of equipment for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant but do not cover the equipment needed for the other part of the Ust-Luga complex – a gas processing plant.
RusKhimAlyans intends to apply to the Hong Kong International Arbitration Center to recover approximately 972 million euros ($1 billion) and 7.6 billion rubles in advance payments and losses, according to court documents.
Linde did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
($1 = 71.7830 rubles)
($1 = 0.9360 euros)
Reporting by Portal editorial board by Mark Potter
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