According to Novye Izvestia, the European Commission has taken another six months to investigate the activities of the Russian monopolist. The European Commission plans to complete the antimonopoly investigation against Gazprom by the spring of 2014. EU Commissioner for Energy Gunter Oettinger announced this the other day.
If a company is found guilty of violating EU antitrust laws, it could face a fine of up to 10% of its annual revenue, which is no less than nearly $ 15 billion.
Vladimir Feigin, President of the Institute for Energy and Finance commented on to NI correspondent Valentina Shakhova:
«It is unlikely that the European Commission will take such tough measures, even if Gazprom is recognized as a violator on some points.»
According to the expert, the antitrust proceedings are accompanied by a serious negotiation process, therefore, most likely, the result of the investigation will be a combination of new rules for gas supplies to Europe, as well as orders to eliminate certain violations. «Probably, these prescriptions will concern different prices for different countries," Mr. Feigin said in an interview with NI. According to him, Gazprom is already revising prices in a number of contracts in order to reduce the intensity of passions by spring. As for prices on the domestic market, they are unlikely to change depending on the decision of the European Commission.
Read the entire article here.
Source: http://www.newizv.ru
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