REUTERS
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (ACU) has declared Russian gas company Gazprom a monopolist in the Ukrainian gas transit services market, said ACU Head Yuriy Terentyev during a press conference.
He stated the ACU was expecting to meet Gazprom representatives to examine the allegation that the company abused its monopoly in the market.
"We are waiting for Gazprom representatives to arrive in Kyiv on January 14, when the issue on abuse of monopoly power by the company in Ukraine will be considered," Terentyev said.
According to Terentyev, in 2011 the volume of transit totaled 92 billion cubic meters, while in 2014 it fell to 62 billion cubic meters, which does not conform to the contractual terms.
Terentyev also noted that the cost of services for the transit of Russian gas through the Ukrainian territory decreased from $3 billion to $1.8 billion in the period from 2001 to 2014, due to the fact that Gazprom had not complied with the terms of the transit contract signed with NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine. Terentyev said Naftogaz estimates losses from Gazprom's possible abuse of its monopoly status at up to $6 billion.
At the briefing, the head of the Antimonopoly Committee indicated the consideration of the matter could last from several weeks to several months, depending on actions of the Russian side, resulting in a possible fine of 30% of Gazprom's revenue from gas transit services in Ukraine.
As UNIAN reported earlier, in late April of 2015, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk asked the ACU to initiate an investigation into Gazprom's activities in the Ukrainian market that were said to undermine the Ukrainian economy, while the company "was operating on discriminatory and actually non-competitive conditions ".
For its part, the European Commission on April 22 formally charged Gazprom with abusing its dominant market position in Central and Eastern European gas markets in breach of the EU antitrust rules.
At the same time, Ukraine appealed to EU partners to jointly conduct an antitrust investigation and to establish "the fact of monopolism by the Russian Gazprom company not only in the European Union, but also in Ukraine."
In mid-May, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine began its antitrust investigation against Gazprom.