EUROPEAN consumers may face a new spike in the natural gas spot price after the European Court of Justice ruled that pipeline operator Opal should not be exempt from European gas market regulations.The European Commission in 2016 had granted an exemption to Opal, which is jointly owned by Russian gas monopoly Gazprom and Germany's Wintershall Dea, and which operates the onshore extension of the Nord Stream sub-sea gas pipeline that aims to carry up to 55 billion cubic metres per annum of Russian gas to Germany across the Baltic Sea.Poland, Lithuania and Latvia - joined by Poland's oil and gas producer PGNiG - had contested the exemption for five years, arguing it was passed without a proper examination of the potential impact on these countries and the European principle of energy solidarity.PGNiG said the Court of Justice ruling is final as the German government had already lost a similar appeal in 2019, where the General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg had agreed with Polish arguments against Opal's exemption.
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