Poland's energy regulator upheld it's ruling to bar a gas-price increase requested by PGNiG. The company appealed the ruling earlier this month. According to Cyryl Federowicz, director of the company's gas pricing department, the company is now preparing its price proposal for 2007.
Our view: PGNiG has already indicated that it is trying to appeal against the URE's fourth consecutive veto on a request for a price increase, so we consider the news as neutral. Earlier this month PGNiG also told us that it might turn to an independent court on the pricing practice of URE. However, we haven't heard about it in the past few weeks. Plese note that the relatively strong zloty as well as the falling crude oil and natural gas prices definitely help the margins of PGNiG in the fourth quarter.