EU Court decides to suspend initial ruling on Opal

The Court of Justice of the European Union (the ECJ) has granted the request of the Polish Oil and Gas Company (PGNiG) and, on December 23, suspended the decision of the European Commission (EC), on the release of the operator of the pipeline Opal from the principle of third party access, PGNiG CEO Piotr Woźniak told the Polish press at a conference on Tuesday. This decision means that Russia's Gazprom will not be able to use the pipeline while the suspension is in force. "The Court of Justice acceded to our request for suspension of the decision to give up almost the whole of the pipeline to the disposal of Gazprom and, the day before Christmas, issued a decision on the suspension. This decision will likely be made public by the end of the year," Wozniak said. The date of the order of the ECJ had not been determined, according to Wozniak, who added that he wanted to refute Gazprom claims of holding rights to use 81 percent of the pipeline's volume. "We will ask for clarification from Opal pipeline operator and the regulator," he said. He added that PGNiG reiterates its appeals to the EC's earlier decision, when it had allowed Gazprom to increase the use of the pipeline to 80 percent from 50 percent through 2033. However, on December 4, 2016, PGNiG Supply & Trading GmbH officially appealed the decision of the European Commission.