Poland fined Gazprom $7.6 billion over Nord Stream 2

The Polish anti-monopoly regulator, the Office for the Protection of Competition and Consumers (UOKiK), fined Gazprom and its partners for the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, RBC reports.

Gazprom was fined 29 billion zlotys ($7.6 billion), five more companies involved in the construction of the project – 234 million zlotys ($61 million). It is about the French Engie, the German Uniper and Wintershall, the Austrian OMV, as well as the Dutch-British Shell, is specified on the UOKiK website.

The regulator imposed on them the maximum fines provided by law (in the amount of 10% of the annual turnover) for the construction of a gas pipeline without the consent of the Polish antimonopoly authority. In addition, the head of UOKiK Tomasz Khrustny ordered the companies to terminate the contracts concluded to finance the gas pipeline within 30 days. They can appeal this decision in court.

“We conducted the proceedings very carefully. The collected evidence leaves no doubt that the entrepreneurs deliberately violated the law,” Khrustny said.

He added that the UOKiK decision is not directed against specific companies, but against violation of competition law.

As a reminder, Gazprom will appeal in court the decision of the Polish antimonopoly regulator UOKiK to impose a fine of $57 million due to non-cooperation in the Nord Stream 2 case.

Earlier it was reported that the ship Akademik Chersky is returning from Germany to the Russian Federation.