Gazprom To Propose EU Antitrust Settlement

Russia's state owned gas monopoly Gazprom is planning to send its final proposal to the European Union to settle antitrust charges, the company said in a statement on October 26. The same day it learned that the European Commission (EC) would allow it to use up to 80% of the contentious Opal pipeline.

Poland does not accept the findings of the five-year-old probe and state gas company PGNiG has threatened to sue both the EC and the German networks regulator for failing to implement the respective legislation correctly. It says the EC should have imposed penalties on Gazprom for "violating competition law on the gas market in central and eastern Europe.

In a brief statement, Gazprom said that the proposal will be sent to the EU's competition officials. The statement was made after EU competition commissioner Margarethe Vestager and Gazprom's deputy chairman Alexander Medvedev held talks in Brussels earlier that day.

"We are now putting the final touch to our commitment proposal. It will be sent to the EC shortly," Medvedev said in the statement.

The commission awaits formal settlement proposals from Gazprom and said that settlement proposals will be market-tested to ensure competition concerns resolved. "All options remain on the table at this stage. We have made progress but there is still quite some work ahead," said Vestager in an emailed statement October 26.  

Nord Stream lands in Germany, en route to Opal

Credit: Nord Stream AG

In April 2015 the commission issued a 'statement of objections' which it sent to Gazprom, expressing concerns that it had breached EU antitrust rules by abusing its dominant position in eight eastern EU gas markets for several years. The warning carries the threat of multi-billion dollar fines, although Brussels indicated its preference was to avoid such action and encouraged Gazprom to propose remedies.

The EU authorised Russian gas monopoly Gazprom greater access to the Opal natural gas pipeline, the Wall Street Journal reported on October 25.

Murat Basboga