Gazprom brought losses to Uniper – Business – Kommersant

The stoppage of gas supplies from Russia at the end of August sharply worsened the financial condition of one of the largest European energy companies, the German Uniper. According to the results of three quarters, the company reported losses of more than €40 billion due to the need to purchase gas at market prices. The German side considers this the fault of Gazprom, which violates the terms of long-term contracts for the supply of Uniper.

The Uniper concern has not received gas from Gazprom since the end of August, informed German energy company in its quarterly report. It notes that the Russian monopoly began to reduce supplies from June 14 and after a period of interruptions, they were completely stopped, which, according to the German manufacturer, is a violation of long-term contracts by Gazprom. The report notes that the Russian company “has become an unreliable supplier for Uniper, as well as for the German and European gas markets.” Previously, they did not rule out filing a lawsuit in court. In turn, the gas monopoly considers the current situation as force majeure.

Against the background of the cessation of imports from Russia, the report states, Uniper is forced to buy gas to supply its customers and pump it into gas storage facilities at significantly higher market prices. Earlier, representatives of the German concern indicated that due to the need to buy more expensive gas, it began to lose more than €100 million a day.

According to the results of three quarters, the net loss of the German energy producer in January-September increased by 8.5 times in annual terms to €40.4 billion. The amount includes €10 billion of realized costs to replace Russian gas volumes and €31 billion of expected future losses from the effect of the evaluation of derivatives and the creation of reserves associated with a reduction in the supply of raw materials from the Russian Federation. In turn, Uniper’s revenue for the three quarters grew 2.7 times to €213.3 billion. Adjusted EBIT was minus €4.7 billion after a positive €614 million last year.

Financial losses forced the German government to start the process of nationalization of Uniper. In September, Berlin agreed on this with the majority shareholder of the German company, Finnish Fortum. Under the terms of the agreement, the authorities must invest about €8 billion in Uniper and buy Fortum shares at €1.7 per share. In the future, according to Bloomberg sources, the German government may provide financial assistance to Uniper for €60 billion.

Olga Mordyushenko