Ukrainian gas giant Naftogaz announced on Tuesday 7 May, that it has filed a complaint against the Russian gas company Gazprom with the European Commission for abuse of a dominant position on the European gas market (see EUROPE 12208/6).
The complaint concerns the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline (see EUROPE 12241/11).
The Nord Stream 2 project “has no economically rational explanation” and “its purpose can only be anticompetitive”, Naftogaz accused in a press release. It is also “intended to entirely bypass the Ukrainian gas transmission system, which would be [...] significantly marginalised”, he adds.
Ukraine collects several billion dollars annually in transit duties from Russian gas to the European Union.
The Ukrainian group also argues that Nord Stream 2 “creates a powerful entry deterrent weapon against imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) into the EU, because excess capacity threatens the ability of new LNG projects to recover their capital costs”.
Nord Stream 2 would, according to Naftogaz, change the direction of gas flows in Europe, leading to a significant increase in transport costs and therefore in gas prices for several Central and Eastern European Member States.
“Gazprom, is through its control by the Russian Federation a geo-political and geo-economic tool” and its behaviour “is part of a wider strategy for increasing EU reliance on Russian gas”, says the Ukrainian group.
The issue of gas transit is expected to be at the centre of the next trilateral ministerial meeting (Russia, Commission, Ukraine), which the European Commission is expected to organise before the summer (see EUROPE 12176/18).
Nord Stream 2, under construction, is a 1,230 km submarine gas pipeline between Russia and Germany with a capacity of 55 billion cubic metres per year. It will be added to the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline with a capacity of 58 billion cubic metres.
The EU bought 169 billion cubic metres of gas from Russia in 2018, according to Commission data. 58 billion cubic metres were transported by Nord Stream 1 and 69 billion cubic metres by the Ukrainian gas pipeline network. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)