UniCredit Ordered by Russian Court to Pay $480 Million Over Abandoned Gas Project

By Mauro Orru

A Russian court ordered Italy's UniCredit to pay 448.2 million euros ($480.3 million) to a Gazprom-owned joint venture as part of claims for bank guarantees over an abandoned gas project.

The Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region upheld a claim from RusChemAlliance--a joint venture of Gazprom and RusGazDobycha--to seek compensation from UniCredit for failing to honor its obligations as one of the guarantors for a project to build a gas processing plant in Ust Luga, near Saint Petersburg.

Linde, a German industrial gases and engineering company, entered into an agreement with RusChemAlliance in 2021 to deliver the project. However, it pulled out after Russia invaded Ukraine, saying that the decision was in compliance with sanctions, according to its 2022 report.

UniCredit was one of the guarantors for the project, according to Russian state news agency Tass.

UniCredit and Linde declined to comment. RusChemAlliance didn't respond to a request for comment.

Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 26, 2024 11:36 ET (15:36 GMT)

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