Bulgarian Firm Joins Baltic Assault on EC

Polish state oil and gas company PGNiG said March 1 that a third entity has just joined the call for a judicial review of the European Commission (EC)'s ruling in the anti-trust case against Russian gas giant Gazprom: the Bulgarian gas distribution company Overgas. Gazprom is a shareholder in Overgas.

The governments of Poland and Lithuania said February 27 and 28 that they would join PGNiG in its legal attack on the a commitment agreement between the EC and Gazprom regarding the latter's alleged abuse of its dominant position in eight European Union countries.

PGNiG said that the four lititgants would demonstrate to the Court of Justice of the EU that the EC's settlement decision was not only contrary to EU law, but also strengthened Gazprom's dominant position on the regional gas market in central and eastern Europe and has a negative impact on the functioning and competition in the EU internal gas market. PGNiG had wanted, among other things, a substantial fine to be imposed on Gazprom.

There was no such announcement on Overgas' website at time of press, and it was not immediately available for comment.