Report: PGNiG says Gazprom’s antimonopoly case ideas inadequate

MOSCOW, Mar 14 (PRIME) -- Proposals by Russian gas giant Gazprom to settle an antimonopoly case are insufficient and their approval by the European Commission is groundless, Poland’s PGNiG CEO Piotr Wozniak told the Financial Times in an story published on Tuesday.

“Our internal assessment shows that the proposals are inadequate to remove the negative impact of Gazprom’s competition breach in the Central and Eastern Europe markets, including the Polish market,” Wozniak said.

“They may not make any significant contribution to changing the situation that triggered the (European) Commission action in 2012. We see the Commission’s acceptance of those commitments as highly ungrounded.”

He said that PGNIG will send its assessment of the proposals within a seven-week deadline for objections. The document will contain the desired minimal requirements for Gazprom.

The European Commission initiated an antimonopoly investigation against Gazprom in August 2012 and accused it of violating the E.U. competition rules in 2015. According to the authority, Gazprom restricted free supplies to Eastern E.U. countries by splitting gas markets, preventing diversification of supplies and setting unfair prices.

Earlier this week, the European Commission has disclosed details of Gazprom’s proposals for a peaceful settlement of the case: the Russian giant will have to remove its prohibition on trans-border resale to third parties, will link prices for its five key Eastern European consumer countries to a benchmark with a possibility of revising the prices faster than it is currently done. The company will also abstain from asking Bulgaria to repay the damage on the cancelled South Stream project.

If the E.U. accepts the measures, Gazprom will be able to escape fines.

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