Naftogaz files claim against Gazprom with EU Commission

Naftogaz of Ukraine has filed a complaint with the EU
Commission about the anti-competitive behavior of Russian Gazprom (GAZP RX),
the company’s director Yuriy Vitrenko said on May 6. “In this way, we will be
able to make natural gas cheaper for Ukrainians,” he wrote in a Facebook post,
explaining this will become possible by providing access to Ukraine’s gas
transit system to EU-based buyers, as well as to Russian independent suppliers,
by enabling gas to be traded at the Russian-Ukrainian border. Currently,
Gazprom is selling all its natural gas passing though Ukraine exclusively on
the border between Ukraine and EU countries.

“In this claim, we analyze in detail how Gazprom is
abusing its dominant position (at the EU market) and restricts competition,”
Vitrenko wrote, listing the planned launch of Nord Stream 2, the blocking of
virtual reverse and the Russian firm’s control over EU-based traders as its key
instruments of influence. Naftogaz’s claim was prepared in cooperation with
leading European experts and lawyers, Vitrenko said.

Alexander Paraschiy: If
Naftogaz’s new initiative will force Gazprom to sell its natural gas to
EU-based traders on Russian-Ukrainian border, this will become a real
breakthrough. In such case, Naftogaz will not need to deal with Gazprom at all
anymore, enabling EU-based traders to purchase Russian gas and transport it
through Ukrainian territory themselves, as well as selling such gas to
Ukrainian consumers. In this way, indeed, natural gas will become much more
cheaper for Ukraine, which has adopted the policy – amid Russian aggression –
to buy it from intermediaries on the EU market, despite the gas originating in
Russia.