Poland drops $6.3b fine case against Russian state-owned Gazprom

The Court of Appeal in Poland upheld the decision of the Competition and Consumer Protection Court to overturn a fine of 29 billion zlotys (about $6.3 billion) to Gazprom for building Nord Stream 2 without the permission of the Polish antimonopoly authorities, Plus Biznesu writes.

No new court proceedings or other sanctions are foreseen in this case.

The case has been going on since 2015, when the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) received an application from six companies — Gazprom and its then European partners Shell, Uniper, Engie, OMV, Wintershall — for permission to create a joint venture with construction and operation of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

In 2016, the Office rejected the concentration, believing that the agreement could lead to a restriction of competition. The companies withdrew the application, but soon signed an agreement to finance the gas pipeline. After that, the Competition Office opened a case against Gazprom and five of its contractors.

In 2020, UOKiK announced a fine of 29 billion zlotys (about $6.3 billion) on Gazprom, and also fined five other companies in the project for smaller amounts.

The fined companies disagreed with UOKiK's decision and filed a lawsuit against the Office with the Competition and Consumer Protection Court.

Last November, the Court ruled in favor of Gazprom.

UOKiK appealed but lost.

Construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline began in 2011 and was completed in 2021. However, it was never put into operation, in particular because of the US sanctions imposed on it. When Russia launched a full-scale war against Ukraine, the German leadership suspended the certification process for the gas pipeline. In September 2022, explosions occurred on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, after which three of the four threads of the pipeline became unusable.