The German concern Uniper, formerly the largest buyer of Russian gas in Germany, is demanding more than 15 billion dollars from Gazprom as compensation for the losses the company suffered due to the violation of gas contracts on the part of Moscow.
This was reported by Reuters, citing sources familiar with the details of the claim, which Uniper brought before the Stockholm Arbitration at the end of 2022.
According to the interlocutors of the agency, the German company, which bought 20 billion cubic meters of gas from Gazprom annually, expects a court decision in the coming months.
Gazprom stopped supplies to Uniper in the fall of 2022 after Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded that the contracts be paid in rubles. As a result, the company was forced to buy gas on the spot market at prices that jumped to record levels and was on the verge of bankruptcy.
The German government allocated more than 29 billion euros to save Uniper from collapse, after which it was forced to nationalize the company, which, in addition to being an importer from Gazprom, was also one of the investors in the "Nord Stream" project.
Following the court ruling, Uniper plans to cancel contracts with the Russian gas monopolist that were supposed to last until 2035, sources told Reuters.
After Uniper, claims against Gazprom were brought by the French Engie, the Italian Eni, as well as the RWE concern, another German gas importer, which received 1 billion cubic meters of gas annually from Russia.
In May 2023, Poland's Europol Gaz also demanded compensation for losses from Gazprom. The company that operates the Polish section of the Yamal-Europe pipeline, which pumps gas from western Siberia to consumers in Germany, is seeking 6 billion zlotys, or $1.45 billion, for breach of contract.
With gas cuts to most European countries, Gazprom lost its biggest sales market, with which the Kremlin had built ties since Soviet times. At the end of last year, Russian gas supplies to Europe fell to 28 billion cubic meters, the level since the second half of the 1970s. Gazprom's total exports to non-CIS countries - 69 billion cubic meters - became the lowest since 1985.
During the year, the company, which manages the largest proven gas reserves in the world, reported a record net loss in its history: it amounted to 629 billion rubles. The revenues of "Gazprom" fell by 27% to 8.54 trillion rubles, and the gas business became unprofitable: the company lost 1.2 trillion rubles during the year from its main activity - the production and sale of natural gas.