The German energy company will claim compensation for losses incurred in connection with gas volumes that Gazprom Export has not supplied since June 2022.
“Uniper has filed arbitration proceedings against the Russian company Gazprom Export in an international arbitration court. Uniper is seeking compensation for the company’s losses in connection with gas volumes not supplied by Gazprom Export since June at the hearing in Stockholm.
Uniper says that due to the actions of its Russian partner, the company has been forced to purchase gas at a higher price from alternative suppliers in order to fulfill its obligations to supply consumers on the basis of pre-agreed prices and volumes. The company estimates that its costs will be at least 11.6 billion euros with further growth by the end of 2024.
“We seek compensation for our significant financial loss in this case. We are talking about gas volumes that were agreed under the contract with Gazprom, but were not delivered and that we had and still have to buy replacement gas at extremely high market prices. “We have incurred these costs, but they are not our responsibility.”
Gazprom Export confirmed that Uniper has initiated the arbitration process.
“We are currently reviewing the statement of claim received and will protect our interests within the legal framework. Gazprom Export does not accept Uniper’s breach of contract and the legitimacy of its claims.”
Gazprom’s force majeure
On July 18, the Russian company declared force majeure regarding the supply of gas to Europe. This was reported by Reuters with reference to a letter sent to one of Gazprom’s consumers.
According to the agency, the July 14 letter said the company could no longer meet its delivery obligations due to “extraordinary” circumstances beyond its control. The force majeure clause is valid for deliveries made from 14 June. The agency’s source also said that we are talking about deliveries to Germany via the Nord Stream pipeline.
On June 14, Gazprom reduced Nord Stream traffic to Germany by 40%, and by a third the next day. The company attributed the restriction in fuel supply to the delay in the transfer from the repair of Siemens turbines. Later, Siemens announced that the units were manufactured at a factory in Canada and that it was impossible to return them from repair due to the country’s sanctions against Russia. Deliveries via Nord Stream were stopped completely on August 31. After the explosion on September 26, the causes of which have not yet been officially determined, “SP” completely stopped working. The investigation is ongoing.
Uniper did not see “force majeure” as a sufficient reason to stop pumping gas. On July 22, the head of the German energy concern Maubach warned that the situation could turn into a lawsuit.
“As for the reassessment of our relationship with Gazprom … it was unexpected that we incur such losses, Gazprom declared us force majeure and this will likely lead to litigation between us and Gazprom,” Maubakh said.
On July 8, Uniper requested state support from the German government in connection with the reduction in Gazprom’s supplies. On July 18, the company announced that it had started pulling gas from its storage facilities to maintain liquidity, and also warned its customers of a possible price increase. They also asked state bank KfW to increase its credit limit, as the current 2 billion Euro limit has already been exhausted. At the end of September, the amount of aid given to Uniper from the German budget reached 29 billion Euros. On September 21, it was learned that the German authorities would nationalize the energy concern, invest 8 billion Euros for its stability, and also buy Uniper. acquired a controlling stake in Finnish Fortum to take control of 99% of the shares.
Source: Gazeta
Ben Stock is a business analyst and writer for “Social Bites”. He offers insightful articles on the latest business news and developments, providing readers with a comprehensive understanding of the business world.