REUTERS
This is a new front of confrontation, Naftogaz CCO says.
National Joint-Stock Company Naftogaz of Ukraine has filed a complaint with the European Commission over anti-competitive actions of a Russian energy giant Gazprom.
Naftogaz Chief Commercial Officer Yuriy Vitrenko has made the relevant announcement via Facebook.
"We have just opened a new front in the confrontation with Gazprom by filing a complaint with the European Commission over Gazprom’s anti-competitive actions," the CCO wrote.
According to him, the complaint analyzes in detail how, due to Nord Stream 2, blocking the virtual reverse, controlling companies on the European gas market, Gazprom abuses its dominant position and restricts competition. It also substantiates the right of Naftogaz to file the complaint (although the company is not from the European Union) and suggests specific mechanisms for resolving the problems indicated in the complaint.
"This complaint was prepared jointly with leading European experts and lawyers," said Vitrenko.
He says that, if it is possible to stop these anticompetitive actions of Gazprom, Ukraine's gas transit revenues will be retained for Ukraine. According to him, the lack of gas transit would mean a loss of 4% of GDP and an economic decline as early as 2020.
"The complaint proposes a series of remedies that would mitigate Gazprom's anticompetitive behavior, inter alia by requiring that Gazprom makes gas available to European purchasers on Ukraine's Eastern and Western borders at a price equal to the price offered to Nord Stream 2 customers adjusted for relevant transportation costs," Naftogaz said in a statement.
Naftogaz says it wishes to make clear that Gazprom is "no ordinary antitrust defendant."
"In addition to the enormous economic power that Gazprom wields in the EU, Gazprom is through its control by the Russian Federation a geopolitical and geo-economic tool." Gazprom's behavior, Naftogaz says, does not arise unintentionally or in a vacuum, but is part of a wider strategy for increasing EU reliance on Russian gas, and therefore the Russian Federation, as well as partitioning the EU gas market between its Western Member States and those in Central and Eastern Europe. At the same time, Gazprom's abusive behavior serves the dual purpose of harming Naftogaz and Ukraine, according to the statement.