The European Commission has made commitments offered by Transgaz legally binding under EU antitrust rules. The company will make available to the market significant firm capacities for natural gas exports from Romania to neighbouring Member States, in particular Hungary and Bulgaria.
Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said, “Transgaz has committed to make available capacities at interconnection points for increased natural gas exports from Romania to Hungary and Bulgaria. This will promote the free flow of gas at competitive prices in South Eastern Europe and is a further step towards a single European energy market. Consumers across the region will benefit from greater security of supply of a key transition fuel towards the ultimate objective of an emissions free energy mix, in line with the European Green Deal.”
The Commission announced a formal investigation in June 2017 to assess whether Transgaz, the state-controlled natural gas transmission system operator in Romania, infringed EU antitrust rules by restricting exports of natural gas from Romania.
Following the opening of the formal investigation, Transgaz offered commitments to address the Commission’s concerns. The Commission then consulted market participants to verify whether the proposed commitments would remove the competition concerns identified by the Commission.
In light of the market test, Transgaz has made some amendments to its proposed commitments. The final commitments will ensure that market participants can access significant volumes of export capacities via the interconnection points between Romania and neighboring Member States.
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