Russia’s Gazprom is selling its stakes in Lithuanian gas utility Lietuvos Dujos and the gas distribution company Amber Grid.<br /><br />The buyers are Lithuanian state-owned firms EPSO-G and Lietuvos Energija. The price is 140.8 million euros.<br /><br />The sale means compliance with European Union gas market rules on fair competition which say those that supply energy are not allowed to dominate ownership of the infrastructure.<br /><br />Gazprom owns 37.1 percent of both firms. <br /><br />“This is good news. The sale means that Lithuania and Gazprom will start conducting their business on a commercial basis, and this will eventually improve relations between Lithuania and Russia,” Arvydas Sekmokas, a former Lithuanian energy minister, told Reuters.<br /><br />Lithuania’s government said this should not have an impact an agreed gas prices until next year. <br /><br />Competition fine<br /><br />Lithuania’s competition authority recently fined Gazprom a record 123 million Lithuanian litas (35 million euros), saying that the company had prevented competition in the Baltic state.<br /><br />The company, Lithuania’s sole natural gas supplier, breached competition rules when it refused to negotiate a deal on gas exchange with Lithuanian power producer Lietuvos Energijos Gamyba in 2012, the Competition Council said in a statement.<br /><br />Gazprom, the world’s top gas producer and supplier of about 30 percent of Europe’s gas needs, is also facing a European Union investigation over suspected anti-competitive behaviour, including overcharging customers and blocking rival suppliers.<br /><br />with Reuters
