The European Commission does not plan to conduct talks with Russia to unify gas prices for the European countries, EC press officer Sabine Berger told journalists.
European Energy Commissar Gunter Oettinger said in Warsaw on Friday that EU stands for a single gas price for all EU member-states. The share of Russian Gasprom at the EU gas market constitutes about 30%.
“Oettinger said he hopes that as soon as the internal gas market is formed and the market principles of gas purchases are expanded, prices in EU will become closer,” Berger explained.
EC believes that the gas prices must be based on the competition and should not be tied up to the oil prices. “This is necessary for the suppliers and makers of gas to compete with each other,” Berger explained.
At present about 50% of gas is delivered to the EU at the prices tied up to the oil price and the new contracts are concluded without this tie-in, Oettinger said. Since 2013 EU has been investigating three cases of violation of the EU rules by Gasprom company, in particular, suspicions of establishing unfair prices tied up to oil prices.
