EU antitrust agents inspect Russia’s Gazprom offices in Germany

/ Policy & Regulations / Thursday, 31 March 2022 13:44

Russian energy giant Gazprom’s German offices were raided by EU antitrust investigators on suspicion that the company had illegally pushed up prices in Europe.

The European Commission said its teams carried out unannounced inspections "at the premises of several companies in Germany active in the supply, transmission and storage of natural gas".

News reports have stated that EU officials visited offices of companies that included the giant's Gazprom Germania GmbH and Wingas GmbH, which supply about 20% of the German market.

The commission, the EU's powerful antitrust authority, is currently looking into allegations that Gazprom tightened supplies to its European clients, triggering steep price rise.

Gazprom has a powerful hand over the EU with Russia providing roughly 40% of its gas supply, mainly to German, Italy and a few eastern European countries.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is posing the danger of short supply of gas to the EU as Kiev has asked Europeans to cut off their Russian supply line to punish the Kremlin for its invasion.

But led by Germany, the EU has refrained from an energy embargo against Russia, fearing the heavy consequences to the economy, especially factories that would risk short term closure if the supply were to stop suddenly.

On the backdrop of the ongoing conflict, the European Union has announced plans to cut its imports of Russian gas by two-thirds in 2022.

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