E.ON writes off its stake in Nord Stream

The German energy company E.ON has completely written off its stake in the Swiss Nord Stream AG, which is the operator of the Nord Stream gas pipelines. About it reported in a German company report.

“Amid heightened uncertainty and amid damage to both Nord Stream 1 pipelines, these investments have been written down to their fair value of zero as at 31 December 2022,” E.ON said in a report.

The company has written off its 15.5% stake. E.ON noted that this decrease is about 1.2 billion euros compared to December 31 last year. The total investment in gas pipelines is 7.4 billion euros.

On March 8, the Dutch gas transmission company Gasunie also announced on the write-off of its stake in Nord Stream AG. The company’s press service said that “in the current geopolitical conditions, Gasunie does not foresee the resumption of gas supplies via Nord Stream in the foreseeable future.”

February 23 on the write-off of his entire share informed German oil and gas company Wintershall Dea. At that time, 15.5% of the shares were also written off. The company’s report said that the write-off of investments was due to the inability to predict “the time frame and costs for stabilizing and restoring the gas transmission infrastructure.”

On February 21, the French energy company Engie downgraded its investment in Nord Stream to 90 million euros, which is 474 million euros less than December 2021.

The foreign shareholders of Nord Stream 1 began to withdraw from the project after the pressure in both pipelines fell on September 26, 2022 as a result of an explosion. Since then, two leaks have been found in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Sweden and two more in the Danish EEZ. In October 2022, Sweden announced the completion of the investigation, stating “increasing suspicions of gross sabotage”, but those responsible for what happened were not named.

February 8 this year, American journalist Seymour Hersh published investigation of the Nord Stream incident, in which he accused the United States and Norway of being involved in the bombing. The White House and the European Commission called this information unreliable.

March 7 The New York Times informed about the emergence of new intelligence from the United States, which claims that the explosion on the Nord Stream pipelines was carried out by some pro-Ukrainian group. According to the newspaper’s sources among American officials, Washington has no evidence of involvement in the bombings of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his subordinates.