Political Step: EU court ruling on depriving Gazprom of access to OPAL part enters into force

EU court restrictions on the OPAL gas pipeline take effect. Now Gazprom has no access to part of its facilities. The company has reduced pumping on this route.

Recall OPAL - the land branch of the Nord Stream. In 2016, the European Commission allowed Gazprom to use the additional capacity of the gas pipeline, and not only 50%, as provided for in the Third EU Energy Package. However, Poland filed a lawsuit to annul this decision, and the European Court of Justice granted it.

“The court of first instance ruled: the decision of the European Commission of October 28, 2016, revising the conditions of exemptions for the OPAL gas pipeline with regard to third-party access and tariff regulation, was canceled,” TASS quoted the text of the court decision.

It was noted that the European Commission, allowing Gazprom to use all OPAL facilities, violated the “principle of energy solidarity”. This wording raises questions, said Vladimir Chizhov, Permanent Representative of Russia to the EU. In an interview with Interfax, he recalled that Nord Stream was recognized as a project of pan-European interest.

“Therefore, if SP-1 remains a project of pan-European interest, it is unclear how the use of gas coming from it to the local German OPAL network may violate EU energy solidarity,” he emphasized.

The Russian government noted that they were analyzing the situation and emphasized that there was still the opportunity to challenge this decision.

“We are now understanding, the decision was made recently. Let us deal with this, gather our thoughts, and we will think about how we will respond to this court decision. Still, this is not the last resort, there is still the opportunity to appeal, ”said Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak.

Motives of Poland

Poland welcomed the decision of the European court. According to Prime Minister Mateusz Moravecki, Warsaw “was threatened by the monopoly power of Gazprom.”

“This gives us unprecedented (energy. - RT ) security compared to the situation that was a few years ago. But we want to be a gas distributor at the same time and get profit from it, ”the head of the Polish Cabinet emphasized. “Therefore, the monopolistic power of Gazprom, which would be strengthened if it were not for today's decision of the EU court, posed a threat to us.”

Moreover, according to the Polish position, limiting the capacity of OPAL and, as a consequence, the Nord Stream, is of great importance in view of the contract expiring at the end of this year for the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine.

“Due to the limited ability to use the OPAL gas pipeline, Gazprom will have to reduce the use of the Nord Stream, so it will probably not be able to completely abandon gas transit through Ukraine and will be forced to continue tripartite negotiations with the European Commission and Ukraine,” site of the Polish government.

We are talking about trilateral negotiations between Moscow, Brussels and Kiev on the continuation of transit after 2019. It should be noted that Russia has repeatedly expressed its readiness to continue pumping blue fuel through the territory of Ukraine in the event of the settlement of litigation between Gazprom and Naftogaz and the provision of mutually beneficial conditions.

• Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Moravecki
• Reuters
• © Marcin Goclowski

“Physically, no one can come to the starting point”

According to experts, the decision of the court of the European Union is political in nature. Leading expert of the National Energy Security Fund and lecturer at the Financial University under the Government of Russia Igor Yushkov noted that since OPAL begins with Nord Stream, then the requirement to free 50% of its capacity is useless.

“Of course, this is a political step. They apply antitrust laws that are designed to promote competition. Why is it necessary to free 50% of the gas pipeline capacity? As planned by lawmakers, this should allow competition to arise. But when physically no one can come to the starting point of the OPAL gas pipeline, there is nowhere for alternative suppliers to get to, ”he told RT.

Yushkov emphasized that Russia has established itself as a reliable gas supplier. In this regard, the attitude to deliveries from the Russian Federation should be purely economic, the expert is convinced.

“If you look at things objectively, we have been supplying our gas to Western Europe for 50 years, to Eastern Europe even more, and we never used it as any kind of energy weapon, which the US administration accuses us of. It is not clear what we are accused of. It is clear that they are politicizing the supply of Russian gas to Europe, ”the analyst said.

According to the director of the Energy Development Fund Sergei Pikin, the court’s decision to restrict access to OPAL is explained by the fact that the EU was able to accumulate enough gas in storage facilities and prepare for the heating season. However, if abnormal cold weather sets in, there is a chance that Gazprom will be returned access to the pipeline, the expert admitted in a conversation with RT.

“I think that winter will show, and if there is a real shortage and some abnormally cold periods, the decision can be reconsidered. So far so good, they again decided to return to such a policy, ”said Pikin.

Disputes at the WTO

OPAL connects Nord Stream with the gas transmission system of Central and Western Europe. Its design capacity is 36.5 billion cubic meters. m per year. Its construction cost about € 1 billion and was completed in 2011.

In turn, the Third Energy Package was adopted by the European Union in 2009. According to the stated goal, he must protect this sphere from monopolies and support competition. It prohibits one company from using the entire gas pipeline - at least 50% of the capacity must be available to competitors or remain completely free. It is also prohibited for the same company to own a gas pipeline or to extract fuel.

However, in 2018, Russia managed through the World Trade Organization to challenge some of the provisions of the energy package. Among them was a limitation on the use of OPAL capacities. Then Moscow welcomed this decision of the WTO Arbitration Group and noted that they are “ways to improve the conditions for Russian natural gas to enter the EU market.” The European Union has filed an appeal to challenge the organization’s decision.