WARSAW: Poland’s state-run oil and gas company PGNiG has called on the European Commission to slap Russia’s Gazprom with a fine and force it to sell assets.
“The European Commission should financially punish Gazprom and create competitive conditions on the gas market,” PGNiG said on May 18, presenting details of the feedback it will send to the Commission.
PGNiG Chief Executive Piotr Wozniak told a news conference on May 18 that Gazprom had abused anti-monopoly laws by, for example, setting different gas prices for different clients, imposing higher prices for some clients and linking its gas supplies with control over gas infrastructure.
“We have calculated every single cent we have overpaid for the gas,” Wozniak said, but declined to give a figure for this or the size of fine it was seeking for Gazprom.
As reported by the Reuters news agency, EU competition regulators said in March that concessions made by Gazprom following charges it has abused its dominant position in central and eastern European gas supplies should ease concerns of market abuse.
That provisional deal moved closer to ending one of Brussels’ longest-running antitrust probes, which could have seen Gazprom fined up to 10% of annual global turnover.
However, the deal is subject to feedback from some EU states and market players, and Poland, which imports most of the gas it consumes from Russia, said in March it would use “all legal means” to block the proposed settlement.
