Putin Puts Gazprom Behind the Kremlin Wall
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree forbidding state owned organizations from providing information to foreign organizations.
The move comes after the EU launched an anti-monopoly investigation into the practices of Gazprom and whether the state controlled natural gas producer is abusing its position as the largest gas supplier to Europe.
The decree requires foreign organisations who wish to request information on "strategic companies" to first seek permission from the Russian government.
The decree also targets European gas companies which have been demanded price cuts on long-term, oil price-linked supply contracts from Gazprom and in the case of Germany’s RWE and Poland’s PGNIG, have moved to seeking arbitration.
The decree targets any demands for discounts to contracts or disclosure of contractual agreements deemed to be against Russia’s economic interests.
The state-controlled gas export monopoly accused the European Commission of using the anti-trust probe it launched last week to force the company to cut prices and to move to a move to a more "spot" influenced pricing system.
“The actions of the European Commission ... can only be seen as an attempt by the [commission] to pressure Gazprom and influence prices and the results of commercial negotiations, which is clearly in breach of market principles,” said Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov.
“Right now a series of relatively weak EU economies are continuing to demand from Gazprom unilateral concessions on gas prices. You can’t view this as anything other than EC support for Gazprom subsidies to eastern Europe. This is an attempt to solve the economic problems of the EC at Russia’s cost.”
Mr Kupriyanov added: “Gazprom in the future will base its work on long-term contracts tied to an oil price basket.”
Jonathan Stern, director of gas research at the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies, told the Financial Times that the growing standoff was “deeply unfortunate” at a time “when everyone understands there is a major problem with Gazprom’s contracts”.
“There is a real battle of perceptions between a large majority of the EU who believe the only future is for hub priced contracts and Russia, which believes it must maintain the oil link.”
Last week Gazprom announced a deal with Japan to proceed with a new liquefied natural gas plant at Vladivostok, indicating it to be a sign of a shift in focus from Europe to Asia.