The European Commission and Gazprom will reach an agreement within the
framework of the EC’s market abuse probe against the Russian company,
international rating agency Fitch Ratings said on Monday.
"While the case's ultimate outcome for Gazprom may take years to
become known, we expect Gazprom and EU to reach a pragmatic agreement as
Gazprom remains very important to Europe's energy supply," Fitch said.
Fitch did not include any monetary penalties into its outlook when
assessing the influence of this factor on the company’s credit rating, the
rating agency said.
ASS reported earlier on April 22, 2015 the European Commission sent the
official list of claims within the European antitrust probe to Gazprom. Gazprom
has 12 weeks to respond to official list of claims by the EC, the European
Union competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said.
The EC suspects Gazprom of abusing its leading position in the European gas
market, and also has questions to its system of long-term contracts and pricing
system.
The official antimonopoly probe was initiated on the basis of complaints of
Lithuanian authorities to the EC on September 4, 2012. The investigation is
carried out in the Baltic States, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and
Bulgaria. Under the European law, the penalty for violation of the antimonopoly
regulations may reach 10% of the annual turnover of the company on the market.
The next talks between Gazprom and the European Commission are scheduled to
the second half of September 2015.
(
ITAR-TASS)