EU charges Gazprom with market position abuse

The European Commission has sent a Statement of Objections to Gazprom alleging that some of its business practices in Central and Eastern European gas markets constitute an abuse of its dominant market position in breach of EU antitrust rules.

On the basis of its investigation, the commission’s preliminary view is that Gazprom is breaking EU antitrust rules by pursuing an overall strategy to partition Central and Eastern European gas markets, for example by reducing its customers’ ability to resell the gas cross-border, European Commission said in a statement.

This may have enabled Gazprom to charge unfair prices in certain Member States. Gazprom may also have abused its dominant market position by making the supply of gas dependent on obtaining unrelated commitments from wholesalers concerning gas transport infrastructure.

Gazprom now has 12 weeks to reply to the Statement of Objections and can also request an oral hearing to present its arguments.

In a response to the Statement of Objection, Gazprom said it considers the claims brought by the European Commission to be unsubstantiated, as the company strictly adheres to all the rules of international law and legislation in the countries where Gazprom Group operates.

Gazprom expects the situation to be resolved in accordance with the agreement reached earlier between the Government of the Russian Federation and the European Commission on finding on the intergovernmental level of mutually acceptable solution on the issue of antitrust investigation.

The company also stressed that the adoption of the statement of objections by the European Commission is just one of the stages of the antitrust investigation and does not imply holding Gazprom liable for any violation of the EU antitrust legislation.

LNG World News Staff; Image: Gazprom