ST. PETERSBURG, April 18 - RAPSI. The Moscow Commercial Court will hear on May 23 the Vyborg Shipyard's $40.6 million lawsuit against Gazprom's subsidiary Gazflot.

The shipyard said it seeks to recover 690.66 million rubles ($23.3 million) for constructing two drilling rigs and a 513 million ruble ($17.3 million) down payment for building remotely operated vehicles.

In November 2007, the shipyard entered into a contract with Gazflot after successfully bidding on the construction of two drilling rigs for the Shtokman oil field.

The rigs were designed to resist severe climate conditions, low temperatures and strong storms. The rigs are able to perform exploration and production drilling at depths of up to 7,500 meters and a water depth of up to 70-500 meters.

The Vyborg Shipyard is engaged in building drilling rigs for offshore fields and support vessels.

Gazflot is the 100-percent subsidiary of the Gazprom gas monopoly. It performs oil and gas exploration and development works on the Russian continental shelf.