Dutch judiciary decides to confiscate Gazprom's [Iraqi Kurdish] assets
A court in the Netherlands decided that Gazprom Neft Middle East (GNME), a Dutch subsidiary of Gazprom Neft, in which it carries out its activities in the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (IKBY), should disclose its assets in the country and to confiscate these assets.
The decision, taken by the District Court of Amsterdam, came upon the request of the Cayman Islands-based investment company Alcazar Capital Partners to secure the Erbil government's debts to it.
The plaintiff company assumes that GNME may own assets belonging to IKBY.
Alcazar, an investment subsidiary of Kuwaiti public company Agility, builds storage and logistics parks, works with the Kuwaiti government in digitalization and customs operations, and provides waste management services.
Unpaid debt of Erbil government
The history of the case dates back to Alcazar's $250 million loan to the Kurdish company Korek Telecom in 2007 to pay for its fees to the local telecommunications regulator.
This debt, which is the guarantor of the IKBY government, has not been repaid by either the company or the management.
Alcazar applied to a court in Kuwait in 2021 and demanded the payment of the $490 million debt from the Erbil government with interest.
After several hearings, he won the case in January 2024. However, in May of the same year, the Erbil Commercial Court banned Alcazar from requesting payment under the warranty at the request of the IKBY.
Thereupon, the Kuwaiti company took action to recognize and enforce the decision of the Kuwaiti court in other jurisdictions, including the Netherlands.
What is Gazprom doing at IKBY?
Gazprom Neft is involved in various projects at IKBY through GNME. The company signed a production sharing agreement with IKBY for the Germiyan field in the south of the region in 2012. In this project, Russians had 40 percent, Canadian Western Zagros 40 percent and IKBY 20 percent. In 2016, Russians took over the operator of the field.
In November last year, Alcazar applied to the District Court of Amsterdam, demanding an injunction against the Erbil government's assets that may be held by third parties, including Gazprom Neft's participation.
The court accepted the request on the same day and decided to immediately confiscate the assets held, owed or obtained from the GNME on behalf of the Erbil government.
In December 2024, a bailiff left the foreclosure decision to the GNME's only address registered in the Dutch Chamber of Commerce register.
In the document, the company was ordered to keep the confiscated assets and make a statement explaining these assets within two weeks. However, GNME did not fulfill this obligation within the specified period.
"Gazprom should disclose its assets"
In January 2025, the bailiff notified the order to the residence address of a GNME official. A few days later, the lawyer of the Russian company reported in an e-mail to the bailiff that they did not recognize any obligations, arguing that the foreclosure was not done properly and the documents were not notified correctly.
On March 27, another unnamed GNME official informed the District Court in writing that the company “has no financial or material assets other than the ICBY and keeps its money only in bank accounts in the ICBY and Russia.”
On April 1, the same official stated that GNME did not make any payments to the Erbil government within the scope of the production sharing agreement, and that the amounts to be paid to the authorities were automatically deducted from the debts arising from the oil purchase and sale contracts supplied to them by the company.
According to the case file, the debt of the Erbil government to Gazprom at that time was 117 million dollars.
However, the Kuwaiti company did not believe these statements of Gazprom, and the court of Amsterdam shared the same opinion and ordered the Russian company to disclose its assets in the Netherlands.
Marat Agabalyan, a partner of the Delcredere law firm, told the newspaper Vedomosti, "Orders to disclose assets are a common coercive tool used in foreign courts."
“The order allows not only to reveal the debtor's hidden property, but also to pressure him in different jurisdictions,” said Nikołaj Stroyev, head of commercial disputes of the MEF Legal law firm.
Stroyev stated that if the Amsterdam court ruled that the GNME owns the assets of the Erbil government, it could allow Alcazar to confiscate these assets.