From Sputnik, February 12:
Nord Stream 2, a
joint gas pipeline project of Gazprom and five European companies, has
been repeatedly denounced by the United States and a number of European
countries, including Poland, following concerns that it would increase
Russia’s influence in the region.
Poland’s
Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) has requested
that the Russian energy giant Gazprom provide information relevant to
its investigation of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, Sputnik has
learned after obtaining a memorandum from the company.
According to Gazprom, the request from
UOKiK was received on 15 January 2020. In November 2019, Poland’s
antitrust authority fined the French company Engie, which is
participating in the project, for failing to provide similar
documentation, resulting in in a 40.3 million euro penalty.
According to Jens D. Mueller, the spokesman for the Nord Stream 2 AG
operator, the Polish authority’s requests urging Gazprom to provide it
with documents were irrelevant to the construction of the pipeline.
What’s Behind Poland’s Request?
The Nord Stream 2 pipeline will deliver Russian gas
to Europe, carrying up to 55 billion cubic metres of gas per year from
Russia to Germany and Central Europe, bypassing traditional transit
countries such as Ukraine, Belarus, and Poland.
In 2016, Gazprom and five of its partners, France's Engie, Austria's
OMV, the UK-Dutch company Royal Dutch Shell, as well as Germany's Uniper
and Wintershall, submitted an application to UOKiK, asking for it to
grant permission for a joint venture. Although Nord Stream 2 does not
run through Poland’s economic zone, its permission was necessary due to
EU legal issues. UOKiK blocked the project, explaining that its decision was due to an alleged threat of the country’s anti-trust laws being violated....MORE
