Gazprom and the European Commission: What’s next?

The Commission said Gazprom’s commitments will enable the free flow of gas in Central and Eastern Europe at competitive prices

- Advertisement -

After lengthy negotiations, the European Commission and Russian gas monopoly Gazprom have agreed on a list of commitments, which the Commission expects will most likely resolve all the competition concerns that were stated in the Statement of Objections.

These are now being put to the market tests, which according to EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, will proceed for seven weeks, to see whether these commitments cover completely the whole spectrum of raised concerns. The commitments will enable cross-border gas flows at competitive prices, the Commission said on March 13. “We believe that Gazprom’s commitments will enable the free flow of gas in Central and Eastern Europe at competitive prices. They address our competition concerns and provide a forward-looking solution in line with EU rules. In fact, they help to better integrate gas markets in the region,” Vestager said. “We now want to hear the views of customers and other stakeholders and will carefully consider them before taking any decision.”

Following Vestager’s announcement, Gazprom’s Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee Alexander Medvedev said in a statement later in the day that the settlement proposal follows a series of consultations between the EU, Russia and Gazprom launched in 2013. “Over the past years, we’ve had many productive discussions with the European Commission during which the parties had a chance to discuss in detail all the concerns raised by the Commission,” Medvedev said.

“The commitments provided by Gazprom – which are a result of substantial work – demonstrate our willingness to address within the established procedure the relevant concerns of the European Commission related to the gas market issues. We hope that the Commission – and ultimately the markets- will respond positively to our proposal which should allow moving the procedure forward and closing the case in the near future,” Medvedev said.

At this point, Gazprom does not have to do anything, sources familiar with the negotiations told New Europe. They are just waiting for the results of the market tests and after those are available and finalised, Gazprom will see what’s going to happen.

The Russian gas giant came up by the first draft of the commitments, starting a lengthy back-and-forth negotiation process with the Commission. They tried “piece by piece by piece to try to get the text to correspond with the concerns, which were in the market at least with the way Gazprom sees it and the way the Commission sees it,” the sources told New Europe.

That’s when the market tests come in. Gazprom came up with a kind of final draft of these commitments where the Commission is more or less satisfied and it believes that they can sell it to the market tests, the sources said.

The market tests are a bit of a separate issue and they decide whether there are concerns to be addressed or not. Presumably those people that participate in the market tests may have some consultations with the commission before they announce the final results of the market tests, the sources said, adding that depending on the final results of the market tests, the Commission and Gazprom will either have to do everything from scratch or leave it as it is or make some adjustments to the list of Gazprom’s commitments.

follow on twitter @energyinsider

- Advertisement -

Subscribe to our newsletter

Co-founder / Director of Energy & Climate Policy and Security at NE Global Media

Latest

A Code of Conduct for the HR Outsourcing sector

The quote - often attributed to Deng Xiaoping -...

T is for tariffs

If the quick freeze and attempted shut down of...

EU officially implements landmark AI law

The EU officially implemented its new landmark AI law...

Trump administration unleashes first sanctions on Iranian shadow fleet

On February 6, the Department of the Treasury unleashed...

Don't miss

A Code of Conduct for the HR Outsourcing sector

The quote - often attributed to Deng Xiaoping -...

T is for tariffs

If the quick freeze and attempted shut down of...

EU officially implements landmark AI law

The EU officially implemented its new landmark AI law...

Trump administration unleashes first sanctions on Iranian shadow fleet

On February 6, the Department of the Treasury unleashed...

Tariff Trouble in Trump Town

President Trump has had many a cartoon about him...

Global reaction to Trump tariffs only reinforces his use of this tired and risky strategy

True to form, U.S. President Donald Trump disrupted global markets with a three-day surge of tariff announcements, border security negotiations and ultimately a 30-day...

Donald Trump is inaugurated amidst promises of security, stability and prosperity

After storming a frigid Washington D.C. during his extended inauguration festivities on January 20, Donald J Trump, America’s 47th and 45th President, launched a...

The heat is on Trump’s fossil fuel push, climate change pushback

2024 has officially been confirmed as the warmest year on record, with global temperatures surpassing the 1.5°C threshold mentioned in the Paris Agreement, Alberto...

The Biden administration’s parting gift to Russia: Still more sanctions

Clearly working overtime to underscore the Biden administration’s desire to inflict maximum economic pain on Moscow and its coterie of Ukraine invasion supporters outside...

Undeclared “open season” on energy infrastructure in Europe

Russia is claiming it has shot down nine Ukrainian drones that tried to attack the TurkStream pipeline, which carries Russian gas to Europe through...

Stringent new energy sector sanctions on Russia announced

On January 10, the U.S. Government released a massive new listing of over 200 entities and individuals involved in Russia’s energy sector for Ukraine-related...

NATO and EU strengthen Baltic Sea infrastructure protection after Estlink2 undersea power cable damaged

The damage of an undersea power cable off the coast of Finland in the Baltic Sea is the latest in a series of suspected...

After Baku, Belem COP to strengthen Paris Agreement

After the controversial agreement at COP29 in Baku, NE Global sat down with Professor Gregg Walker, a COP veteran, for a close analysis of...