(Adds Gazprom comment)
WARSAW, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Poland's anti-monopoly watchdog
UOKiK said on Monday it had fined Gazprom 213 million zloty ($57
million) over a lack of cooperation in its proceedings
with regard to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.
Poland sees Nord Stream 2, which would double Russia's gas
export capacity via the Baltic Sea, as a threat to Europe's
energy security, saying it will strengthen Gazprom's market
dominance.
Nord Stream 2 is led by Gazprom, with half of the funding
provided by Germany's Uniper and BASF's
Wintershall unit, Anglo-Dutch company Shell, Austria's
OMV and Engie.
UOKiK has been examining the project for years. In 2019 it
fined Engie 40 million euros ($47 million) for failing to
provide documents and information relating to the
case.
"At the beginning of the year, we requested Gazprom provide
us with contracts concluded by its subsidiary with other
companies financing the construction of Nord Stream 2," the head
of UOKiK said in a statement. "The company failed to provide
such information."
"To my mind, it is an intentional act, the aim of which was
to obstruct the ongoing proceedings."
Gazprom said it had asked UOKiK to provide justification for
that request, which it had not received. The Russian energy
giant plans to appeal the fine in court, it said on Monday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Gazprom have said they
plan to complete Nord Stream 2. More than 90% of the
construction has been completed.
Gazprom supplies most of the gas consumed in Poland. Polish
state-run gas company PGNiG has often complained it
pays more than its European peers for Russian gas.
In July, Gazprom paid PGNiG the $1.6 billion the Polish
company won in a pricing dispute and PGNiG chief executive said
that Poland's relations with Gazprom were "becoming normal."
($1 = 3.7592 zlotys)
($1 = 0.8519 euros)
(Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko; Additional reporting by
Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow; Editing by Kevin Liffey, Barbara
Lewis and Jan Harvey)
