Blow to Gazprom critics as EU court upholds antitrust settlement – Reuters

  • Date: 02-Feb-2022
  • Source: Reuters
  • Sector:Oil & Gas
  • Country:Gulf
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Blow to Gazprom critics as EU court upholds antitrust settlement – Reuters

BRUSSELS, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Gazprom's critics suffered a blow on Wednesday when the European Union's second highest court upheld a 2018 decision that let the Russian gas giant settle a long-running antitrust investigation without paying a fine.

The European Commission, the EU's competition enforcer, in 2018 accepted Gazprom's concessions, which included a pledge to reform its pricing structure and allow rivals a foothold in eastern Europe. That allowed the company to avoid a fine that could be as much as 10% of its global turnover.

Polish rival PGNiG (PGN.WA), the Polish government and some eastern European countries criticised the settlement for being too soft on Gazprom, contrasting it with hefty EU antitrust fines for U.S. tech giant Google.