EU court asks EC, PGNiG for more data on Gazprom–OPAL case

MOSCOW, Dec 28 (PRIME) -- The European Court of Justice has requested the European Commission (EC) and Polish energy holding PGNiG provide additional data on the impact of Russian gas giant Gazprom’s possible use of more than half of capacities of the OPAL natural gas pipeline, PGNiG said in a statement late on Tuesday.

Under the third energy package rules, Gazprom has access to half of the OPAL capacities, or to 12.8 billion cubic meters. The EC decided in October that Gazprom will retain its right to use half of the pipeline capacity and will be given admission to auctions for another 40%. On December 19, PGNiG challenged the decision saying it is a threat to safety of gas supplies to the E.U.

“The E.U. court decided that PGNiG’s arguments are valid and suspended implementation of the European Commission’s decision. The Commission was obliged to present a more thorough explanation regarding the supposed procedure of OPAL pipe’s capacities distribution. The court also asked PGNiG to present an in-depth analysis of the EC’s decision on safety and competitiveness of gas supplies to Poland,” the company said.

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