I expect that they will - they can deduct the funds paid this year for undelivered gas from payments in the coming years for volumes above their minimal obligations then.
So is this only about changing the price formulas (away from oil prices towards spot-based formulas), or is it some attempt to weaken the "take-or-pay" clauses? It's not clear to me yet, and I'm pretty sure that different players in this story (including those reporting it) have different agendas here. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
One of the whole points baout TOP is that gives a degree of certainty that allows the optimal sizing of investment, which results in a lower price to the purchasing party.
If Russia want s to futher develop its Irkutz fields it will need to build a additional piping and compression capacity. If they give ground now, then the buyers will sign a contract with a shrug of their shoulders and "who cares?"
