Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register FRANKFURT, April 4 (Reuters) – Gazprom Germania, an energy trading, storage and transmission company abandoned by Russia’s Gazprom (GAZP.MM) on Friday, will be transferred to the German regulator to ensure energy security, it said. Monday Economy Minister Robert Hubeck. All voting rights in the company will be transferred to the regulatory authority, the Bundesnetzagentur, Habeck said in a press conference. The move was immediately implemented with a publication in the Federal Gazette. “The mandate of the trust administration serves to protect public safety and order and to maintain security of supply,” Habeck said. “This step is mandatory.” Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Habeck added that security of supply was currently guaranteed in a period of crisis in energy ties between Germany and Russia following Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine. The Bundesnetzagentur will take control by 30 September 2022. It will have the right to remove executives, hire new staff and ask management how to proceed. “Our goal will be to run Gazprom Germania in the interests of Germany and Europe,” Klaus Müller, head of the Bundesnetzagentur, said in a statement. The Ministry of Economy stated that the move was to prevent the possible acquisition of Gazprom Germania by JSC Palmary and Gazprom export business services LLC, both of Russia. It was not clear who was behind the companies, the ministry said, hinting that a takeover was not legally permissible, given that investors came from outside the EU and were going to operate vital infrastructure. “We will not allow energy infrastructure to be subject to arbitrary decisions by the Kremlin,” Habeck said. Gazprom did not provide details or explanations for its decision to terminate its holdings in Gazprom Germania and all of its assets, including its subsidiaries in Britain, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. read more Gazprom has been under scrutiny by European Union regulators for months after it denied allegations that it was blocking gas that could have been released at lower prices. Sources said last week that its offices in Germany had been attacked by EU antitrust authorities. Read more German Finance Minister Christian Lindner on Monday rejected an EU embargo on Russian gas imports as rising civilian deaths in Ukraine increase pressure on the bloc to impose sanctions on Russia’s energy sector. read more “We are dealing with a criminal war,” Lindner said ahead of talks with his EU counterparts in Brussels. “It is clear that we must end all economic ties with Russia as soon as possible. We must impose tough sanctions, but gas cannot be replaced in the short term. We would do more harm to ourselves than to them.” Hubeck said earlier Monday that he was seeking to reduce Russia’s indirect economic influence in other parts of the energy industry, saying that the next step was to offer Russian oil company Rosneft (ROSN.MM) to take control of German refinery PCK Schwedt. Gazprom Germany’s interconnected unit network includes dealer Wingas and storage company Astora, which operates 6 billion cubic meters of underground gas caves in Germany and Austria. The British arm Gazprom Marketing & Trading is supplying fuel to consumers, including agents, restaurants and the national health service, which has caused great concern in Britain and the pressure would be from these German-driven companies. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Vera Eckert and Joseph Nasr. Additional References by Kate Holton in London, Edited by Maria Sheahan and David Evans Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
