Gazprom Appeals $3Bln Ukraine Anti-Monopoly Committee Fine to Supreme Court

Russian energy giant Gazprom has appealed the decision by a Kiev court not to consider Gazprom's objection to a $3-billion fine imposed against it by the Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMC) for abusing its dominant position in the Ukrainian gas transit market to the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine, the court's press service said Thursday.

KIEV (Sputnik) — In January, the AMC fined Gazprom 85 billion hryvnia ($3 billion) for abusing its market monopoly. Gazprom challenged the fine in the Kiev Commercial Court. The case was struck out and subsequently an appeal was lodged in a higher court. The appeals court ruled that Gazprom's complaint about the AMC fine did not stand and the Kiev Commercial Court decision should be left unchanged.

"The appeal complaint was registered on June 7 and yesterday [Wednesday] materials were transferred to the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine," the court's press service said.

In December 2015, AMC head Yuriy Terentyev said that Ukraine’s national oil and gas company Naftogaz had suffered an estimated $6 billion in damages as a result of Gazprom's abuse of its monopoly of gas transit in the country. Gazprom called the move a pressure-applying tactic, stressing that it did not conduct any business in Ukraine, as it transfers its gas to Naftogaz at the Ukrainian-Russian border.