The German energy company Uniper announced on Wednesday that it had obtained the right to claim “more than 13 billion euros” in compensation for gas delivery cuts by its former Russian partner Gazprom since mid-2022, after the favorable decision of a arbitration tribunal.
After the invasion of Ukraine by Moscow’s troops, Uniper was hit hard in 2022 by the reduction and then the total end of deliveries of Russian gas to Germany, via the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
“This decision creates legal clarity for Uniper”, even if “it is not yet possible to estimate whether significant amounts [d’indemnisation] are expected,” commented Michael Lewis, CEO of Uniper, in a press release.
The total stoppage of deliveries had brought the group very close to bankruptcy. The German state had rushed to its aid by nationalizing it.
As a result, the reparations that Uniper can actually obtain will be paid into the state coffers, the group said.
The arbitration decision, not public and rendered on June 7 according to Uniper, also grants the energy company the right to terminate its contracts with Gazprom, which remained in force for long-term gas supplies, said the company’s boss. from Düsseldorf (west).
Uniper was the main customer of Russia’s Gazprom in Germany, a country whose economic model was based on the import of cheap Russian gas for the industrial sector. The war in Ukraine has upset these balances, forcing the country to change paradigm, at the cost of soaring energy costs for businesses.
Due to a lack of gas delivered by Gazprom, Uniper had to, to honor its contracts, obtain gas on the spot market where prices exploded during the summer of 2022.
The Russian company invoked “force majeure” at the time to justify stopping deliveries, without giving further details.
Uniper responded by deciding the same year to take the matter to the international arbitration court, located in Stockholm (Sweden), against Gazprom to be compensated for the supply cuts.
It has since been imitated by another German energy company, RWE, also the victim of Russian gas delivery cuts.