EU regulators raid Gazprom offices
EU antitrust investigators have raided the German offices of Gazprom, over allegations that Russia's state-owned gas supplier has abused its dominant position on the European gas market.
The unannounced inspections took place at the premises of several companies involved in gas supply, transmission and storage in Germany on March 29, the European Commission reported on March 29, without naming the companies in question. The AFP news agency earlier cited sources as saying Gazprom was one of the main targets of the operation. Bloomberg reported that the offices raided belonged to both Gazprom Germania and Gazprom's Wingas subsidiary, which supplies around 20% of the country's gas.
The commission is investigating allegations that Gazprom limited supply in order to cause prices to increase.
Gazprom has faced mounting criticism for making the European gas market artificially tight since prices began rising to unprecedented heights last autumn. By all accounts, the company continues to comply with its supply contracts, but it has avoided its typical sales of additional volumes on the spot market.
In September last year, a group of 40 European Parliament lawmakers mainly from Poland and the Baltic States urged the commission to start an investigation into Gazprom's alleged manipulation of European gas prices. Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz then filed a complaint against Gazprom with the commission in December, accusing it of anti-competitive behaviour.
"Unannounced inspections are a preliminary investigatory steps into suspected anticompetitive practices," the commission explained in its statement. "The fact that the commission carries out such inspections does not mean that the companies are guilty of anti-competitive behaviour nor does it prejudge the outcome of the investigation itself."
This is not the first time Gazprom has faced an EU antitrust probe. A long-running antitrust case into the company's sales practices finally ended in 2018, with Gazprom agreeing to offer buyers more flexible pricing and other contractual terms. In return, it avoided having to pay fines that would have amounted to 10% of its global turnover.