German government Agreed on friday Acquired about 30% stake in Uniper, one of the country’s largest natural gas suppliers at stake, and continued to stream energy supplies to hundreds of municipalities, potentially leading to the European energy market Dodge the mess.
Uniper was the first company to benefit from a new law allowing the government to bail out companies that are considered essential to the country’s gas supply. The government has also expanded the credit granted to the company to € 9 billion ($ 9.1 billion).
Germany faces the worst energy crisis in decades after Russia invaded Ukraine in February and began an economic battle between Moscow and Europe, the United States and its allies. The resulting significant rise in energy prices has overturned Uniper’s business model of importing more Russian natural gas than any other German company.
Uniper’s share price rose 9% on Friday trading, but lost more than 70% of its value this year.
For decades, Uniper has purchased most of the gas from Russia’s state-owned supplier Gazprom and sold it to German factories and municipalities. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Gazprom has broken its long-term contract and has begun to reduce the amount of gas it provides to Europe. To compensate for the decline in gazprom supply, Uniper was forced to buy other gases at higher prices.
As Uniper’s costs soared, the German government prevented Uniper and other energy companies from passing higher costs on to their customers, and Uniper’s CEO Klaus Dieter Mobach lost daily losses. I kept it recorded in the mid-digits. , Told reporters on July 8th.
The company was also immersed in its own natural gas reserves reserved for the winter. This was called an “emergency measure,” but it is no longer allowed under the new regulations released by Gazprom on Thursday. It will not resume full delivery over the NordStream1 pipeline.
While Germany is leading the bailout, Uniper’s largest shareholder is Fortum, a Finnish company that is itself majority owned by the Finnish government. Berlin and Helsinki are at odds over the terms of the bailout, leading to protracted negotiations between the two European partners.
