The CEO of the German energy company Uniper, Klaus-Dieter Maubach, this Friday during a press conference at the company's headquarters in Düsseldorf.INA FASSBENDER (AFP)
The gas war resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine is taking its toll on German energy companies, especially the giant Uniper, the world's largest buyer of Russian gas.
The company has become the first victim of the gas cut ordered by Moscow by officially requesting the rescue from the German Government due to the risk of bankruptcy.
Uniper says it is unable to cope with rising oil prices in global markets after state gas company Gazprom cut shipments by two-thirds in mid-June.
Berlin plans to take drastic measures to protect the economy.
The company is "under extreme financial pressure" that has forced it to submit a request for "stabilization measures" that will now have to be specified, but that can range from higher loans to the entry of the State into the shareholding, through the possibility of immediately passing on price increases to customers.
Or a combination of several of these measures.
The Executive led by the Social Democrat Olaf Scholz hinted a few days ago that he is willing to come to the rescue of the energy company by entering the capital.
He will do "whatever it takes," he said, to help affected businesses.
Uniper, headquartered in Düsseldorf and with 12,000 employees, plays a very important role in the German energy supply.
Among other things, it provides energy to many public administrations and manages 8,000 million cubic meters of storage.
The reduction in shipments from Russia has forced it to buy on the international market at much higher prices in order to meet the demand of its customers.
The energy company's proposal points first to the distribution of costs allowed by the recently reformed German Energy Security Law.
Secondly, it provides for the injection of more external capital by increasing the line of credit from the public bank KfW, which it already had, some 2,000 million euros still not used.
The company also proposes that the federal government have "a relevant participation" in the property.
Uniper's main shareholder, the Finnish group Fortum, is negotiating with the Scholz executive how to carry out the intervention.
The government has yet to decide whether to allow Uniper to shift all costs and raise the prices it charges its customers, for which it is likely to have to devise new aid packages to cushion the blow to struggling households and businesses.
"Risk of collapse"
Berlin fears a "Lehmans Brothers effect" in the energy market, as Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck called it, when he announced the activation of the second alert level of the national energy emergency plan in response to cuts in gas flow Russian.
The entire system "is at risk of collapse," he said.
Uniper is the only energy company that has asked for help, but there are more in difficulty.
According to the business daily
Handelsblatt
, the Executive is also talking about possible aid with VGN, another Leipzig-based gas importer.
"The situation is no longer sustainable for us, which is why we have made the official request for state aid," acknowledged Uniper's CEO, Klaus-Dieter Maubach, during a press conference on Friday.
"The federal government has created the necessary instruments and now we are waiting for a quick solution," he added, referring to the legislative changes that allow the additional cost of energy to be passed on to consumers.
Maubach warned that, with the current price of gas in international markets, the company would accumulate losses of up to 10,000 million euros in the coming months, and recommended consumers to prepare for "a huge wave of price increases".
Habeck avoided giving details of the bailout, but at a press conference this Friday he stated: "From politics we are clear: we will not allow a company of systemic importance to go bankrupt and as a result cause turbulence in the global energy market."
Germany is in the process of filling its gas tanks for the cold season.
The minister revealed that the facilities receive between 0.3% and 0.4% more gas each day, so the process is slow.
The Government's priority is to fill the tanks, which is why it has resorted to coal-fired power plants to avoid producing electricity with gas.
"We have enough gas, the supply is assured," stressed Habeck, but recalled that the price being paid is "immensely high" so it is normal for companies to experience financial problems.
The government will choose the option that is "best and cheapest for Germany, for German consumers, for German taxpayers and for the German state, and the safest for security of supply," Habeck added.
Since mid-June, Germany has only received 40% of its contracted gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. The Baltic Sea pipeline is currently the main source of Russian gas supply after Moscow shut down the Yamal- Europe and reduce shipments through Ukraine.
The Nord Stream 2, a second channel that was going to double the amount of hydrocarbon that runs through the Baltic bed, was paralyzed by the Scholz government a few days before the invasion.
Russia assures that it has had to reduce the volume in the main compression station of the gas pipeline because it has not received a turbine from the German manufacturer Siemens that it sent to Canada for repair.
Habeck claims that this is an excuse to "destabilize and raise prices."
The German government has been negotiating with Canada for days to send the turbine, which, in order not to bypass the sanctions imposed by the Justin Trudeau Executive on Russian oil and gas, could reach Germany and from there be transferred to Russia.
If the state gas company Gazprom has the turbine, it would no longer have an excuse to continue restricting the amount of gas it sends to Europe, Berlin reasons.
