By Christoph Steitz, Tom Käckenhoff and Vladimir Soldatkin
FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF/MOSCOW (Reuters) – Uniper, the biggest corporate casualty of Europe’s energy crisis, is looking to the courts to resolve the issue of its dormant Russian gas supply contracts, which could scare off investors once it fully returns to the stock market. said people who knew about it.
In 2022, the German government bailed out Uniper, once Gazprom’s (MCX:) largest European customer, after Uniper was forced to pay high prices to buy supplies to compensate for lost Russian gas when Gazprom cut off supplies.
The German group has now completely replaced Russian gas volumes through other suppliers. However, Gazprom contracts are still legally effective. They run until 2035 and cover 250 terawatt hours (TWh) of gas, which corresponds to a quarter of German gas demand.
“This issue needs to be resolved as it could pose risks to a potential IPO,” said one of the people, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, adding that it could deter potential investors.
Early preparations are underway to return Germany’s 99.12% stake in Uniper to the stock market, and sources told Reuters in February that Berlin could sell 20-30% in a first step next year.
The company’s dormant Gazprom contracts have been suspended but not canceled since Russia cut gas supplies to Germany in 2022 due to the conflict in Ukraine, ending decades of reliable supply.
Because the European Union has not yet imposed sanctions on Russian gas, there is no legal framework for Uniper to terminate the contracts, the sources said.
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Christian von Hammerstein, a partner at law firm Raue, said the contracts would remain in force as long as there was no legal basis to terminate them.
“If Russian gas were sanctioned, that would be force majeure and they could invoke that against Gazprom without breaching the contract,” he said.
LEGAL DISPUTE
If Gazprom decides at some point to resume deliveries, which analysts say is unlikely but not impossible, Uniper could be forced to pay for the gas even if it did not need it, as determined by the take-or- pay contracts that are a mainstay of the gas industry.
Several other European energy companies still have such contracts with Gazprom, both ongoing and dormant, and some are also seeking damages.
In its annual report, Uniper referred to the potential impact of “Gazprom’s future behavior” on Uniper’s financial situation, without providing more details.
Uniper is seeking damages of more than 14 billion euros from Gazprom, the people said, and expects a ruling in the coming months from the arbitration tribunal in Stockholm, where it filed the claims.
The sources said it was possible that the Swedish tribunal in its ruling could create the conditions to annul the existing contracts with Gazprom, allowing Uniper to legally terminate them.
Alternatively, if Gazprom decides to resume deliveries, Uniper could choose to take the gas until the deliveries reach the value of the damage claims, the sources said.
Uniper, which has completely written off all its Russian activities, confirmed that it expects a ruling from the tribunal in the coming months. It was previously said that 250 TWh of contracts with Gazprom still exist.
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Gazprom Export, the Russian company’s exporting arm, successfully challenged the case in a St. Petersburg court, which ruled in March that Uniper and a subsidiary would be fined 14.3 billion euros if they continued the arbitration.
“Gazprom has failed to meet its supply commitments since summer 2022, resulting in Uniper incurring billions in gas substitution costs,” Uniper said, declining to quantify the claims.
The German Finance Ministry, which oversees the government’s stake in Uniper, declined to comment.
Gazprom did not respond to a request for comment.
($1 = 0.9323 euros)