Polish regulator imposes $57 mln penalty on Gazprom over Nord Stream 2 investigation

 Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) has imposed a penalty of around $57 mln on Russia’s top gas producer Gazprom for failure to cooperate in the investigation conducted in relation to construction of Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, the regulator said in a statement on Monday.

"President of UOKiK Tomasz Chrostny has imposed a penalty of almost 213 mln zloty (around $57 mln) on Gazprom for failure to cooperate in the investigation conducted in relation to the construction of Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline," the statement runs. Such an obligation is fixed in the European legislation, on which the Polish Act on Competition and Consumer Protection is based, UOKiK noted.

"The penalty imposed on Gazprom is related to the proceedings conducted with regard to the creation of a consortium financing the construction of Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline without a required consent of the President of UOKIK. The Authority has made allegations in this case against six companies: Gazprom from Russia, Engie Energy from Switzerland and four companies from the Netherlands: Uniper, OMV, Shell and Wintershall. In the course of the proceedings, the Authority requested documents that are of significance to the case from Gazprom as well, however, the company refused to provide information that is important to the pending proceedings," the regulator said.