The European Union expects to publish the results of its investigation into OAO Gazprom's (GAZP.RS) pricing and contract policy by "spring next year," EU energy chief Guenther Oettinger said Thursday.
The European Union expects to publish the results of its investigation
into OAO Gazprom's (GAZP.RS) pricing and contract policy by "spring next
year," EU energy chief Guenther Oettinger said Thursday.
"I can't say which month or which day. But it's not a never-ending
story," the commissioner said in
Vilnius
,
adding EU experts would complete their "analysis in [the] next six
months."
Brussels
launched its probe into the
Russian fuel giant's use of long-term contracts in September 2012 over
suspected infringement of EU competition rules in member states including
Bulgaria
, the
Czech
Republic
,
Estonia
,
Hungary
,
Latvia
,
Lithuania
,
Poland
and
Slovakia
.
Speaking in
Lithuania
--holder
of the EU's rotating presidency--Oettinger said the move had no political
overtones and urged Gazprom to play by EU rules. "Our Russian partners
have to understand and to accept that we have European Union rules. [It] means
we are market-based, market-oriented," he said.
Lithuania
has
repeatedly accused Gazprom of unfair prices. The Russian energy giant is the
post-Soviet Baltic state's only natural gas supplier, via a pipeline across
Belarus
.
Vilnius
is attempting to break that
monopoly by constructing a liquefied natural gas terminal, which is due to start
operations by the end of 2014. The Baltic republic is also seeking EU funding
for a gas pipeline linking it with larger southern EU neighbor
Poland
.
Διαβάστε ακόμα
Παρ, 26 Ιουλίου 2024 - 16:04
Παρ, 26 Ιουλίου 2024 - 16:02
Τετ, 24 Ιουλίου 2024 - 15:10
Τετ, 24 Ιουλίου 2024 - 15:06
Τρι, 23 Ιουλίου 2024 - 16:51