EU officials raided the offices of Gazprom PJSC's units in Germany as part of an investigation into the Russian energy giant's alleged role in raising prices in Europe to record highs, Bloomberg reported, citing its sources.
According to the report, EU officials visited the offices of Gazprom's Germania GmbH and Wingas GmbH that supply nearly 20 percent of the German market.
Europe has been struggling with an energy crisis since late last year, with gas reserves at their lowest. In January, the EU's antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said that she was waiting for Gazprom to answer some questions from EU lawmakers about whether the Russian energy giant was abusing its power by deliberately reducing supplies to raise prices thereby putting pressure on policymakers to greenlight the Nord Stream 2 project.
Gazprom has repeatedly denied any allegations of anti-competitive behaviour, stressing that it was supplying gas in accordance with its contracts. Russian President Vladimir Putin joined the country's energy officials in saying that EU policies, including a halt in the certification of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, should be blamed for the crisis.