Lithuania’s natural gas transmission company Amber Grid has been fined 81,100 euros for what are thought to be 123 Russian-made parts installed in the Gas Interconnection Poland-Lithuania (GIPL) without proper certifications.
Renatas Pocius, chairman of the National Energy Regulatory Council (VERT), confirmed that the market regulator made the decision during a closed meeting on Tuesday.
“Considering that the company cooperated with the council, has already completed some procedural steps, and is conducting and planning further actions, the council imposed a financial penalty of 0.1 percent of the company’s 2023 turnover,” he told BNS.
According to the VERT chairman, Amber Grid was fined for improper operation of the gas transmission system by installing parts in the GIPL pipeline without proper provenance documentation.
“As we see it, a gas [transmission] system that lacks origin documentation is considered to be improperly operated,” said Pocius.
“But in no way do we mean to say that the system is unsafe because we have not received any signals to that effect from the company,” he added.
Amber Grid told BNS later on Tuesday that it will seek to recover the 81,000-euro fine from Alvora, the main contractor on the GIPL pipeline.
“Amber Grid views the penalty imposed by VERT as damages incurred due to the actions of the GIPL contractor. The company plans to recover the fine from the GIPL contractor responsible for the violation,” the natural gas transmission system operator told BNS.
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