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State aid for Russian group: why we save Gazprom Germania

2022-08-30T08:06:04.451Z


State aid for Russian group: why we save Gazprom Germania Created: 08/30/2022, 09:57 By: Matthew Schneider Around 25 percent of the controversial gas levy goes to the wholesaler Sefe, better known by its old name: Gazprom Germania. But what is behind the daughter of the energy giant? Munich – It's causing a stir like nothing else: the levy to replace Russian gas supplies. 90 percent of this go


State aid for Russian group: why we save Gazprom Germania

Created: 08/30/2022, 09:57

By: Matthew Schneider

Around 25 percent of the controversial gas levy goes to the wholesaler Sefe, better known by its old name: Gazprom Germania.

But what is behind the daughter of the energy giant?

Munich – It's causing a stir like nothing else: the levy to replace Russian gas supplies.

90 percent of this goes to two large dealers.

One of them is Saving Energy for Europe, or Sefe for short, which until recently was the German arm of Putin's energy industry.

An overview of why German consumers will support a Russian group from autumn.

Business areas: Gazprom Germania is deeply anchored in German gas trading

According to its own statements, Sefe operates with around 50 companies in 16 countries.

Founded in 1990 to manage the operations of the state-owned Gazprom group in Europe, it soon rose to become a major player in gas trading, transmission and storage.

In the course of demerger measures, the business areas were divided into company subsidiaries.


Wingas, a former joint project with the BASF subsidiary Wintershall Dea, sells around 20 percent of the gas consumed in Germany.

Customers are around 100 municipal utilities and just as many industrial companies, according to official circles.

This makes it one of the most important gas traders in the country - and is now fully owned by Gazprom Germania.


With a 25 percent market share in Germany, the Sefe subsidiary Astora is one of the largest storage operators in Europe.

The large caverns in Rehden, Jemgun and Haidach make up the total volume of almost 60 terawatt hours – around six percent of Germany’s annual consumption.

These storage facilities had a significant influence on the subsequent fate of Sefe: Already with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was feared that the Kremlin had instructed Gazprom to empty its German storage facilities in order to make the Federal Republic vulnerable to blackmail.

The suspicion was confirmed in April: When the federal government used the Federal Network Agency as a trustee, they could only report empty storage.

In May, the Kremlin banned the export of Russian gas to Gazprom Germania as a tit for tat.

The rescue: Germany helps Gazprom Germania – gas levy planned

The consequence would have been a catastrophe for the Federal Republic.

Because when Gazprom Germania agreed the contracts with its German customers, Russian gas still cost around two cents per kilowatt hour.

However, the price rose five to tenfold due to the embargo – and Gazprom Germania has to serve its German customers on the old, favorable terms.

The consequence would inevitably have been insolvency - and the customers would have been defenseless at the mercy of the extreme stock market prices, currently a good ten times the usual level.

Therefore, the government jumped in with public funds for the replacement purchase.

Officials have announced that the KfW development bank has so far provided around nine billion euros for the follow-up purchases.

As in the case of Uniper, the KfW loans are now to be replaced by the gas surcharge.

The cross-financing is needed until the old contracts expire and Sefe can adjust new contracts to the current procurement costs.

The levy is intended to prevent only Wingas customers from being hit.

The burden is therefore spread across the shoulders of all gas customers.

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Ownership: Gazprom Germania was renamed Securing Energy for Europe

Russia wanted to endanger the republic's energy supply by emptying the gas storage facilities.

When the storage tanks ran out, the decision was made on April 1 to liquidate the company.

For the German foreign trade law, the situation at Gazprom Germania represented a disruption of essential security interests of Germany. The Federal Network Agency was therefore allowed to be appointed as a trustee.

This now administers the resources for the benefit of Europe.

However, no expropriation has taken place: the Sefe is still in Russian hands.

In order to emphasize independence from the regime in Moscow, Gazprom Germania was renamed in June: Securing Energy for Europe means something like: Securing Europe's energy supply - exactly what Gazprom was supposed to prevent.


Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-08-30

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