The European Commission is preparing to charge Gazprom over unfair competition practices, it has emerged.
EU competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia confirmed the Russian gas giant was facing antitrust charges.
But, speaking at a conference in Vilnius, Almunia said it was still too early to set out a definite timeline for the case.
Last month EU Energy Commissione, Guenther Oettinger, suggested the charges would be laid out in Spring 2014.
The Commission launched an investigation into Gazprom’s competition practices against several EU member states in September last year, after a 2011 raid on the firm’s offices found documents suggesting unfair pricing and contractual terms imposed on its partners.
On top of a cash penalty of 10% of the company’s annual revenues (4.76trillion roubles or $148billion last year), the European Commission can order Gazprom to amend the contracts in question for the affected countries. These include Belarus, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland and Hungary.