Gazprom appeals to the decision of the European Commission

Gazprom will appeal the decision of the European Commission in the prescribed manner, TASS said in the company.

Gazprom considers EC accusations unreasonable, since the company acts within the framework of the law, and the principles of its pricing for gas comply with the standards used by other manufacturers and exporters, the company's statement said.

The Gazprom expects to resolve the situation, taking into account the agreements previously reached between the Russian government and the EC, on the search at the intergovernmental level of a mutually acceptable solution on the issue of antimonopoly investigation.

“At the same time, the adoption by the European Commission of the“ Application for Grounds ”is only one of the stages of the Antimonopoly Investigation and does not mean the recognition of Gazprom OJSC guilty of any violation of the EU antimonopoly legislation,” the company emphasizes.

According to the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, “those contracts that are currently acting were concluded in full accordance with the legal regime that at that time acted in the European Union,” Interfax reports .

“When they accepted the third energy package in the European Union, requiring the production, transit, consumption, consumption and distribution to consumers, there were attempts, and they continue, retrieval, retrospectively extend these requirements to old contracts. This is absolutely unacceptable, if only because we have an agreement on partnership and cooperation with the European Union from 1999, which no one has canceled, ”said the Russian Foreign Ministry.

EC on April 22 sent Gazprom a list of claims, as part of an antimonopoly investigation, which was started in 2012. The European regulator believes that the Russian company prevents the free gas circulation between European countries, interferes with the diversification of gas supplies and sets an unfair gas price for customers.

The European Commission believes that the company imposes contracts with prices indexed on the basis of the cost of a barrel of oil, as well as a ban on gas resale. Gazprom has repeatedly announced that they consider the purpose of investigating the European Commission to reduce the price of Russian gas.