Gazprom dumps shareholder agreement: report

The decision comes after Poland's competition regulator UOKiK expressed concerns over the creation of a joint venture comprising Gazprom and five European partners. In July, UOKiK said that the pipeline would limit local competition and increase dependency on Gazprom for natural gas supplies.

TASS said cancelling the shareholder agreement, which Gazprom announced on Friday, was a "technical move" that would pave the way for different partnerships with Gazprom's European partners.

"This is a technical move that needs to be confirmed by the board of directors... The move creates a setting for defining new partnerships with western partners for implementing this important project," a TASS source said.

Alexey Miller, Gazprom chief executive, told TASS that the partners plan to find a new way to finance the project by the end of the year. In the interim, the Switzerland-based company is 100 percent Gazprom-owned and financed.

Nord Stream 2 plans have been met with criticism in Poland and other EU countries, which say it will increase dependence on Gazprom for gas supply to Europe. Gazprom already delivers about a third of the natural gas used in the EU.

The first of the pipes required in the pipeline's construction arrived in Mukran, in Germany's north east, in late October. (vb/pk)

Source: PAP