Russian gas giant Gazprom says it is giving up its German subsidiary Gazprom Germania. The group announced Friday that it would withdraw from Gazprom Germania GmbH and its holdings, including Gazprom Marketing & Trading. The company has large gas storage facilities in Germany and Austria.
Gazprom Germania was initially unable to comment. The Russian parent company was previously the sole owner. Gazprom Germania’s participating interests also include subsidiaries in Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Gazprom Germania’s business areas are natural gas trading, transportation and storage. It was initially unclear whether the announcement would affect natural gas supplies from Russia to Germany.
Gas storage in Germany and Austria
Founded in 1990, the company Gazprom Germania, through its subsidiary Astora, has gas storage facilities in Germany and Austria with a total capacity of six billion cubic meters. In Germany, this includes storage facilities in Rehden, Germany, and in Austria, in the Salzburg town of Haidach. The natural gas storage in Haidach is a joint project of the Austrian RAG with the Russian Gazprom-export and the German Wingas.
Berlin played through nationalization
According to media reports, the German Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology announced on Thursday that it will proceed internally with the nationalization and expropriation of the German subsidiaries of Russian energy companies Gazprom and Rosneft.
In this way, the German federal government wants to avoid a massive disruption of energy supplies, especially in East Germany, in case of difficulties for companies, the Handelsblatt reported, citing government representatives.
According to the 2020 annual report, Gazprom Germania, including its subsidiaries, had 1,543 employees, including 339 in Berlin.
Source: Krone
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