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1st LD Writethru-Roundup: EU accuses Gazprom of breaking EU antitrust rules

Xinhua, April 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

The European Union(EU) on Wednesday accused Russian gas giant Gazprom of breaking EU antitrust rules by abusing its dominant position on EU gas markets.

The European Commission said in a statement that it 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.

It said Gazprom pursued an overall strategy to partition Central and Eastern European gas markets, for example by reducing its customers' ability to resell the gas cross-border, that may have enabled Gazprom to charge unfair prices in certain EU 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 and can also request an oral hearing to present its arguments, the statement said.

EU Commissioner in charge of competition policy Margrethe Vestager said: "All companies that operate in the European market - no matter if they are European or not - have to play by our EU rules."

"If our concerns were confirmed, Gazprom would have to face the legal consequences of its behaviour," she added.

On its website, Gazprom responded that it considered the claims brought by the European Commission were "unsubstantiated".

"Gazprom strictly adheres to all the rules of international law and legislation in the countries where Gazprom Group operates," it said in a press release, adding that the adoption of the "statement of objections" by the EU 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.

Gazprom expected the situation to be resolved by undertakings between the EU and the Russian government. Endit