The
Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (ACU) has fined Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom
UAH 85 billion (about $3.4 billion) for abusing monopoly position in Ukraine's
gas transit market, ACU Head Yuriy Terentyev wrote on Facebook.
"A decision has been made
now regarding the abuse of monopoly position by Gazprom, as a monopoly buyer,
in the market of natural gas transit through main pipelines in the territory of
Ukraine. The fine is UAH 85 billion," Terentyev wrote.
As UNIAN reported earlier, in
late April of 2015, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk asked the ACU to
launch a probe into Gazprom's activities in the Ukrainian market that were said
to undermine the Ukrainian economy, as the company "was operating under
discriminatory and in fact non-competitive conditions."
According to data provided by
the Justice Ministry, Energy Ministry, the ACU and also Naftogaz, Ukraine has
lost opportunity to trade gas on its western border due to actions of Gazprom.
Neither is Ukraine able to make full use of the Slovakian route for gas
imports, as Russian gas monopoly has taken control of all gas transportation
facilities. Also, having blocked virtual reverse flows from Slovakia, Gazprom
has deprived European suppliers of a potentially significant share in the
Ukrainian market.
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.
On December 24, 2015, the ACU
declared Russian gas company Gazprom a monopolist in the Ukrainian gas transit
services market and stated it was expecting to meet Gazprom
representatives to examine the allegation that the company abused its monopoly
in the market.
At this, Ukraine unilaterally
raised January 19, 2016, gas transit tariffs for Russian energy giant Gazprom
by 50%. New transit tariffs stand at about $4.5 per 100 kilometers, in
accordance with new calculations.
Ukrainian Energy Minister
Volodymyr Demchyshyn said that since the beginning of 2016 Ukraine has switched
to input/output method of tariff calculation, according to which Gazprom would
have to pay a separate tariff at each point of entry to the Ukrainian gas
transportation system and each outlet from it.
As reported earlier, Naftogaz
and Gazprom has been involved in gas disputes over a contract dated 2009
regarding the transit of Russian gas.
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