Gazprom Germania transferred to German energy regulator

Gazprom Germania, a German energy corporation abandoned by the Russian energy giant Gazprom due to Russian sanctions, has been entrusted to a German regulator that will assure Germany’s energy security.

Earlier on Friday, Gazprom, the Russian parent company of Gazprom Germania, chose to exit the German market. The move was made in response to the Russian firm’s fear of being isolated in a European country, particularly since the EU has placed severe sanctions on Russia. 

Germany has the European Union’s biggest economy. Further, it gets a lot of its natural gas from Russia. As a result of Russia’s sanctions, Putin mandated that all international importers of Russian gas pay in Rubles. This will contribute to the improvement of Russia’s economy.

Putin has instructed all foreign purchasers to create accounts with the Russian government bank in order to assure its implementation. This will significantly reduce the severity of the sanctions. However, European countries have rejected Putin’s demand, claiming that it is nothing more than blackmail. 

Gazprom Germania under the trusteeship of a German Regulator 

The German economy was under significant pressure as a result of Putin’s demand. Later, fearing isolation in the European Union, Russia’s massive energy corporation, Gazprom, quit its German market.

The Economy Minister said that Gazprom Germania would be handed to German trusteeship in order to maintain energy security in Germany. The company will be transferred to a German energy regulator until September 30. The Federal Network Agency will be a stakeholder and will assure energy supply security.

Furthermore, the government has made it clear that it would not seize control of the corporation. Germany’s Economy Minister said, “The federal government is doing all possible to assure the security of supply in Germany. 

This also implies that we will not enable the Kremlin to make arbitrary choices about German energy infrastructure.” Furthermore, he accused the Russian corporation Gazprom of abandoning the German market without first getting authorization from government officials. As a result, Gazprom has breached German foreign trade law. 

Gazprom also has commercial subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Singapore. However, it is unclear if Gazprom will also abandon these sites. Furthermore, what happens after September 30 is unknown. And how would this affect subsidiaries from the United Kingdom to Singapore?

Edited by Subbuthai Padma

Published by Iram Rizvi