Nord Stream 2: Polish court cancels fine against Gazprom

A Polish court has overturned a €6.2 billion fine imposed on Russian giant Gazprom in 2020 by Poland’s national competition office, UOKiK, for the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline linking Russia and Germany, the office announced.

“We will appeal this ruling,” warned the president of the office, Tomasz Chrostny, in a statement where the UOKiK said he was “surprised” by the decision.

UOKiK accused Gazprom and five other companies – Western firms – involved in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline of having created a joint venture without its consent.

But the court found that the companies had not created a joint venture, according to Chrostny.

“The project was not implemented by a joint venture, but by a subsidiary of Gazprom with debt financing,” the Russian gas giant had claimed in 2020.

The five Western companies, the French group Engie Energy, the German Uniper, the Austrian OMV, the Anglo-Dutch Shell and the German Wintershall, were fined a total of 234 million zlotys (52 million euros).

According to Mr. Chrostny, the Polish court also found that the board had no jurisdiction to rule on the effects of the pipeline on the economy.

“The threats we mentioned when we announced our decision (in 2020, editor’s note) are clearly visible today, not only in Poland, but throughout Europe,” Chrostny argued in the statement.

The pipeline is now out of service. Along with the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, Nord Stream 2 was hit at the end of September by explosions, which resulted in gas leaks into the Baltic Sea. On Friday, the prosecutor in charge of the preliminary investigation in Sweden assured that it was sabotage.

Even before the war in Ukraine, Nord Stream was opposed by Poland, the Baltic States and the United States, which feared that the pipeline would increase Europe’s energy dependence on Russia and become a means of pressure for Moscow.

Built in parallel to the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was intended to double the capacity of Russian gas imports into Germany.

But its imminent commissioning has been suspended, in retaliation for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.