Energy, Estonia, Legislation

The Tallinn administrative court on Tuesday decided not to satisfy a claim filed by VKG AS and VKG Oil AS regarding ending a supervision proceeding. The Competition Authority found that the price charged by Eesti Energia from VKG for oil shale in 2013-2015 is in accordance with the Competition Act, the competition watchdog said.

The court said that the Competition Authority's final conclusions in regards ending the proceeding were lawful.

Oil shale is mainly used to produce electricity and shale oil. Eesti Energia and VKG is two of the biggest oil shale users in Estonia. Eesti Energia group has had the right to extract about 75% of oil shale, therefore it is easily the biggest oil shale extractor in Estonia.

VKG is able to extract in a smaller volume and at certain times might run short. In such cases VKG has historically purchased the missing oil shale from Eesti Energia.

VKG found that the oil shale price discriminated against the company. The Competition Authority found that the prices are reasonably connected to the high electricity prices on international markets at the time and Eesti Energia's actions did not damage competition.