After Uniper: Federal government considering nationalization of Gazprom subsidiary

Created: 2022-09-22Updated: 2022-09-22 2:14 PM

Gazprom Germania headquarters in Berlin.

The federal government is concerned with the future of Gazprom subsidiary Sefe.

© Paul Zinken/dpa

The Gazprom subsidiary Sefe is already under the trusteeship of the Federal Network Agency.

In order to ensure security of supply, the federal government should now deal with nationalization.

Berlin - After the announced nationalization of the energy company Uniper, the state could intervene in another energy company.

This is Securing Energy for Europe (Sefe), which is already under the trusteeship of the Federal Network Agency.

According to a “Spiegel” report, Sefe is to become state property.

The company is a subsidiary of the Russian state-owned company Gazprom.

A spokeswoman for Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) said on Thursday that talks about the future of Sefe were ongoing within the federal government.

She cannot provide any further details at this time.

On Wednesday, the federal government announced that it wanted to take over almost all of Germany's most important gas importer Uniper.

The background is the complete cessation of the contractually agreed gas supplies from Russia.

The resulting increase in replacement costs would have exacerbated Uniper's plight.

Gazprom subsidiary already under trusteeship

In April, Habeck appointed the Federal Network Agency as a trustee for Gazprom's German subsidiary, which is now called Sefe.

Habeck justified this with unclear legal relationships and a violation of reporting regulations.

The aim is to ensure security of supply.

In mid-June, the federal government supported what was then Gazprom Germania and today's Sefe with billions via KfW in order to prevent bankruptcy.

At that time, it was said that the next step would be for the federal government to examine options for converting the loan into equity in order to ensure security of supply in the long term.

As the “Spiegel” writes, the federal government’s planned investment in Sefe is part of the rescue of the Leipzig gas importer VNG.

VNG had applied for help from the state, as the company and the majority owner EnBW had announced.

The state of Baden-Württemberg, as EnBW co-owner, should participate financially in VNG, as should East German municipalities as VNG co-owners.

dpa