REUTERS
NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine shall bear its own costs and the costs of the European Commission.
The General Court (EGC), which is a constituent court of the Court of Justice of the European Union, has dismissed claims filed by Ukraine's national oil and gas holding company Naftogaz and Poland's oil and gas company PGNiG against the European Commission's decision on the review of the exemption of the OPAL pipeline from the requirements on third-party access and tariff regulation.
"The EU's General Court on March 9, 2018, dismissed as inadmissible the action brought against the European Commission to demand the review of the decision dated October 28, 2016. The court concluded that, among other things, there is no longer any need to adjudicate on the applications to intervene," Naftogaz's press service said.
The action is based on Article 263 TFEU and seeking annulment of Commission Decision C(2016) 6950 final of October 28, 2016, on the review of the conditions for exemption of the OPAL pipeline, granted under Directive 2003/55/EC, from the rules on third-party access and tariff regulation.
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NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine shall bear its own costs and the costs of the European Commission.
The final decision on the Russian gas giant Gazprom's extended access to Europe's OPAL, which is used to ship gas from Nord Stream to the Central European markets, was taken by Germany's energy regulator.
"The claim of PGNiG was also dismissed," the press service noted, adding that there is a separate claim filed by Poland against the European Commission over Gazprom's access to OPAL, but there is no decision on this matter yet.
As UNIAN reported, Naftogaz on March 27, 2017, filed a separate action to the General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union against the European Commission requesting the Court to annul the Commission's decision of October 28, 2016. The latter would allow Russia's Gazprom to have access to more capacity of the OPAL pipeline and increase gas transmission via Nord Stream.
According to Naftogaz, the approval of the decision without prior consultations with Ukraine violates Article 274 of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement and EU's obligations under the Energy Charter Treaty and the Treaty establishing the Energy Community.
Naftogaz argued that the Commission lacked authority to approve revisions to the 2009 exemption issued by the German regulator. Furthermore, the decision contradicts Directive 2009/73/EC since it does not enhance competition, endangers the security of supply of Ukraine and other Eastern European countries as well as the effective functioning of the EU and Energy Community markets through strengthening the dominance of Gazprom and its affiliates.
According to Naftogaz, providing Gazprom with additional access to 30% of the OPAL gas pipeline (in addition to the accessible 50%) will deprive Ukraine, as a major transit supplier of natural gas to Europe, of at least $290 million - $320 million in revenue per year and will reduce transit shipments via Ukraine's gas transport system.
UNIAN memo. Germany's OPAL gas pipeline, which was built 2011, is a land-based extension of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, which delivers gas from Russia to the EU countries. The total length of the pipeline is 470 km, its capacity is 36.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year.