Gazprom has found a way to avoid the accusations of the European Commission
The Russian gas concern Gazprom can reform its European assets in order to fulfill the demands of the ‘third energy package’ of the EU and to avoid the accusations of the European Commission. Vedomosti writes on September 20 that Interfax reported about that a day ago referring to unidentified sources. Gazprom refused to comment about the issue.
In accordance with the third energy package admitted by the EU in 2009, production companies cannot not own simultaneously distributive and transporting networks. The EU presupposed that, with admission of the amendments to the legislation the region would get an opportunity to reduce dependence to gas supplies from Russia, and to improve competition at the fuel market. Gazprom was against admission of the package.
Now the Russian giant sells gas to Europe via its subsidiary Gazprom Export. The latter holds in its turn 100% in Gazprom Germania Gmbh, and it owns Gazprom’s assets in the European states, including the British Gazprom Marketing & Trading Limited, the Swiss trader Gazprom Schweiz AG and the shareholdings in Wingas and Wintershall.
In the proposed reform, Gazprom can found 2 subsidiary holdings, infrastructural Gazprom Storages & Transport, and trading GMT Holding. Gazprom Germania will join the first one, as well as gas storagesand transporting networks, and the second will be engaged with gas trading. It’s unclear now where the new structures will be registered, either in Great Britain, or Switzerland, or Luxemburg. The source of Interfax states that if registration is performed in Switzerland, the holdings will be able to avoid the inspections of the EU authorities.
In the beginning of September, the EC officially began the antimonopoly investigation against Gazprom. The regulators suspect that the Russian concern intervenes to fair competition in Central and Eastern Europe, and sets unfair tariffs for its clients. In the beginning of September, the European Commissioner for Energy Issues G. Ottinger claimed that Gazprom should supply gas to the EU markets by comparable prices, differing by not more than 30% from state to state.
In its turn, Gazprom regarded the actions of the EC as an attempt to put pressure on the concern in order to reduce gas prices. The representative of the gas company claims that Gazprom and the Russian authorities offered to the European officials to negotiate last year but they got no answer.
Translated by Nadezhda Poltoratskaya
