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EU charges Gazprom with 'abusing' market position in Central & Eastern Europe

... right after Miller's visit to Athens

Russia’s biggest gas utility, Gazprom, was hit with an antitrust case by European Union regulators for “abusing” its dominant position and overcharging customers for gas supplies. The investigation against the Gazprom has been ongoing for 2 years.”

Gazprom is under investigation for market dominance in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria. The Russian gas major has individual contracts with these countries that allow company to charge each a different price for gas supplies. [...] Gazprom’s unfair prices partly result from the firm’s formula that link gas prices to oil product prices and 'have unduly favored Gazprom over its customers,' the EC said.”

The gas supplier has 12 weeks to respond to the claim and call a hearing. EU antitrust fines cannot exceed 10 percent of global yearly revenue, which for Gazprom in 2013 was $164.62 billion, so the EU could hit the company with a more than $16 billion fine. To compare, Google's maximum fine is €6 billion. The EU has been discussing the creation of an ‘energy union’ which would force companies like Gazprom to sell gas supplies at a fixed rate to the entire 28-nation bloc.”


... the failure of selling the Greek gas company (DEPA) to Russians, was not accidental, since in this case, Gazprom would have become the basic stakeholder of the Greek-Bulgarian pipeline IGB, in which the Greek company participates. And this means that the supply of Bulgaria and Romania with gas from Azerbaijan would be impossible. The 180 degree turn of European Commission is characteristic, since, while appeared at the start supporting fully the Nabucco pipeline, subsequently withdrew its support, since Nabucco was no longer competitive against Russian interests pipeline South Stream.


... it seems that Tsipras and Putin play the game smartly. After Miller's visit in Athens, both sides made clear that in case of a deal, the new pipeline will be constructed under full respect of the European legislation, in agreement with the EU. Miller also referred to European companies who are interested to participate in this project. Therefore, lobbyists can be used to increase the pressure to Brussels to approve the deal.

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