Equinor appeals fine for violation of market regulations in France
The French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) has imposed a fine of 4 million Euros on Equinor for two cases of REMIT* violation in connection with the booking of annual gas transmission capacities, one in 2019 and one in 2020. Equinor will appeal the decision.
The case concerns the booking of annual gas transmission capacities on capacity auctions relating to the French-Spanish network interconnection point Pirineos (PIR) back in 2019 and 2020. CRE finds that Equinor has colluded with Danske Commodities in the first round of the same annual gas capacity auctions by reserving more than the maximum volume of capacity offered for sale. Danske Commodities have been fined 8 million Euros and will appeal the decision.
“Market compliance is fundamental in Equinor and we have standards and routines in place to ensure that we comply with regulations and conduct rules in the markets we operate in. We have found no signs of collusion and on that basis we do not agree with the decision from CRE that the alleged collusion took place. We will appeal the decision,” says Irene Rummelhoff, executive vice president for Marketing, Midstream and Processing in Equinor.
From Equinor’s acquisition of Danske Commodities and onwards, market compliance measures have included information barriers in systems and organizational setup as well as training and follow-up by separate market compliance units. Equinor maintain that Equinor and Danske Commodities acted independently, and that Equinor booked capacity solely in order to keep access to the Spanish capacity booking platform and therefore ensure access to the Spanish gas market.
Equinor will appeal the case to Conseil d’État, the highest court in France for handling cases involving public administration.
*Regulation on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency
