Poland's state-controlled oil and gas company PGNiG has appealed the decision of the European Commission (EC) to end its antitrust case against Russian energy giant Gazprom without imposing fines, local media reported on Tuesday, citing sources.
WARSAW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th October, 2018) Poland's state-controlled oil and gas company PGNiG has appealed the decision of the European Commission (EC) to end its antitrust case against Russian energy giant Gazprom without imposing fines, local media reported on Tuesday, citing sources.
PGNiG company has lodged an appeal against the EC decision with the Court of Justice of the European Union, according the Polish Press Agency.
Since 2012, Gazprom has been fighting accusations of alleged monopolistic practices in several Central and Eastern European gas markets. The same year, the EC opened a case into Gazprom's dealings in Central and Eastern Europe and brought charges against it in 2015 for breaching rules in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovakia.
In May 2018, the EC finalized its probe without imposing any fines on the company. The commission however decided to impose legally binding obligations on Gazprom's work in a number of countries of Central and Eastern Europe, threatening otherwise with fines of up to 10 percent of the company's worldwide turnover. In particular, Gazprom was told to scrap barriers it had in place for reselling gas cross-border in eight EU countries of the region.
PGNiG itself has long been engaged in a pricing battle with Gazprom, demanding additional reduction of gas prices.
