Danske Commodities and Equinor fined EUR 12 million (CRE, 2025)
CoRDiS found that Danske Commodities and Equinor coordinated first-round bookings at France-Spain gas capacity auctions in 2019 and 2020 to remove tariff multipliers on shorter-term capacity. It fined Danske EUR 8 million and Equinor EUR 4 million; both appealed.
On this page
The decision
- Authority
- Commission de régulation de l'énergie (CoRDiS) (CRE), France
- Decided
- 20 January 2025
- Participants
- Danske Commodities A/S; Equinor ASA
- Commodity
- Gas
- Market
- Annual gas transmission capacity auctions at the France-Spain interconnection point
- Conduct period
- Annual auctions in 2019 and 2020
- REMIT
- Article 5 (Market manipulation)
- Type of conduct
- Concerted bidding
- Penalty
- EUR 8,000,000 (Danske) and EUR 4,000,000 (Equinor)
- Status
- Under appeal (ACER register, 2026-10-14)
What CoRDiS found
In decision 08-40-23 of 20 January 2025, CoRDiS examined annual gas transmission capacity auctions on PRISMA at PIR Pirineos, from France to Spain, on 1 July 2019 and 6 July 2020. It found that Danske requested the full 82,286 kWh/h offered in each first round and Equinor requested 1 kWh/h. Together, their requests exceeded supply and triggered congestion pricing: the removal of multipliers that otherwise made shorter-term capacity more expensive than annual capacity.
The decision records that Danske then reduced its request to 1 kWh/h in 2019 and zero in 2020, while Equinor maintained its minimum request. The final annual allocations were therefore only 2 kWh/h and 1 kWh/h. CoRDiS found that Danske subsequently benefited from cheaper shorter-term capacity. It held Danske's first-round requests non-genuine under Article 2(2)(a)(i), and both firms' coordinated conduct price manipulation under Article 2(2)(a)(ii), breaching REMIT Article 5.
What the decision turned on
Danske argued its bids were binding and it would have paid for the capacity if allocated. CoRDiS relied on its own strategy documents, which described bidding for the full volume to trigger congestion tariffs. It held that a willingness to accept allocation did not establish that acquiring annual capacity was the real purpose of the orders.
Equinor argued that a minimum booking was necessary to retain access to the Spanish nomination platform. CoRDiS rejected its explanation, finding that the supposed requirement no longer applied and that Equinor had not adequately checked it. The committee treated the evidence of concertation collectively: repeated complementary bids, exchanges of gas-market information, regular joint analytical meetings and Danske's changed behaviour after Equinor acquired it. It said ownership alone was not the evidence of coordination. General compliance policies did not rebut those findings.
The penalty and appeals
CoRDiS weighed deliberate conduct repeated at two auctions, the firms' experience and resources, and interference with the tariff mechanism. It found a direct benefit to Danske but no evidence establishing a benefit to Equinor, which justified the lower sanction. It imposed EUR 8 million and EUR 4 million respectively and required publication of the decision and notices by both firms.
CRE's 2024 market-monitoring report records appeals by both companies. On 12 June 2026 the Conseil d'Etat referred Danske's challenge about notification of the right to remain silent to the Conseil constitutionnel. On 6 August 2026, the constitutional court declared parts of the sanction procedure unconstitutional and allowed that ruling to be invoked in pending cases. It did not itself annul the manipulation sanction; no subsequent merits judgment was located in this review.
For a surveillance function
The decision examines bids across auction rounds and across related companies, alongside the tariff rule they activate and the firms' contemporaneous strategy documents. CoRDiS's reasoning makes the purpose of a booking relevant even where the booking is binding, and treats a very small order as material when it completes the mechanism that changes a price.
Sources
- CoRDiS, decision 08-40-23, 20 January 2025 (Decision, in French)
- CoRDiS, decision 08-40-23, 20 January 2025 (official CRE PDF, archived 31 March 2025) (Decision, in French)
- CRE, 2024 market-monitoring report, 2025 (Guidance)
- Conseil d'Etat, decision 501828, 12 June 2026 (Decision, in French)
- Conseil constitutionnel, decision 2026-1219 QPC, 6 August 2026 (Decision, in French)
- CoRDiS, press release, 13 February 2025 (Press release, in French)
- ACER, overview of REMIT sanction decisions (ACER register)
Sources read on 27 October 2026. This page restates what the authority published and adds no finding of its own. A decision under appeal is not final, and its status may have changed since: check the source before relying on it.