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Wintershall to keep financing Nord Stream 2 — CEO

The probe of the Polish antimonopoly regulator against companies involved in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project will not affect the project’s implementation, Wintershall's CEO says

ST. PETERSBURG, May 24. /TASS/. Wintershall will keep its share in financing the Nord Stream 2 project even after merger with DEA, Chief Executive Officer of the company Mario Mehren told TASS on Thursday on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

"I think that merger has nothing to do with our financing. We have computed as Wintershall to finance up to ten percent of that project and that’s what we’re going to do. Independent of the merger," Mehren said.

Nord Stream 2 AG, the project operator, has not yet applied for the next tranche but Wintershall will promptly make the transfer as soon as the request is received, the top manager added.

The probe of the Polish antimonopoly regulator against Gazprom and five foreign companies involved in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project will not affect the project’s implementation, he said.

"We are currently analyzing what this case is really about, what the arguments are they are bringing up. Coming to your question whether that could have an impact on the project, I don’t see that. We have seen a lot of Polish tries to make our life more complicated and if you think about all the lawsuits they filed there - so far - without success. Because what we are doing is always in line with the legislations," he said.

Polish probe against Gazprom

Earlier this month, the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) reported that it had begun an antitrust investigation against Gazprom and other shareholders involved in the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project.

According to the Polish regulator, "the activities of the would-be consortium members could be an obvious attempt to circumvent the lack of consent to establish a company financing the construction of the gas pipeline.

The Polish regulator said that it may impose upon an undertaking a maximum fine of 10% of the turnover generated in the financial year preceding the year in which the fine is imposed if the undertaking performed a concentration without obtaining consent from the UOKiK.