Wintershall Dea reports missing €2bn dividend from joint ventures in Russia

Germany’s Wintershall Dea has not received a €2 billion dividend for 2022 from joint ventures in Russia, CEO Mario Mehren said. According to him, this happened because of the Russian decree on price restrictions on the sale of hydrocarbons.

“All these cash funds accumulated over the course of a year, €2 billion. These funds basically disappeared, since the Russian state issued a decree that, in fact, from March 1, 2022, determined the price limit on the sale of hydrocarbons that were produced by our joint ventures, be it gas or gas condensate,” said Mario Mehren at the annual press conference (quoted from TASS).

The company does not rule out filing lawsuits against Russia due to leaving the country. “We will consider all possible options to reduce the damage to the company, its shareholders and employees,” said Mario Meren (quoted by Reuters).

Wintershall Dea is one of the investors in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The company also owns 15.5% in the Nord Stream operator, 25.01% in Achim Development jointly with Gazprom. Wintershall Dea also manages Severneftegazprom, which is developing the Yuzhno-Russkoye field, together with Gazprom and OMV.

January 17 this year Wintershall Dea informed about plans to leave Russia. The loss from the deconsolidation of joint ventures in Russia will be about €5.3 billion.

Olesya Pavlenko