German energy group Uniper asked for urgent state aid on Friday, saying it was wiping out “several tens of millions of euros” losses per day due to the drastic drop, since mid-June, in the supply of Russian gas.
« Uniper suffers outflows of the order of tens of millions of euros per day. This situation is no longer tenable.”said the CEO of the German giant, Klaus-Dieter Maubach, during a press conference on Friday.
Uniper, which was before the war in Ukraine the first customer of the Russian gas giant Gazprom, “might lose up to ten billion euros” from here ” the end of the year “ if nothing is done, warned Mr. Maubach.
To break the impasse, the juggernaut filed a request on Friday to benefit from a rescue plan from the public authorities. This should include a new line of credit with the public bank KFW and a “participation” of the State, according to the company which did not provide details on the budget or the expiry date of the expected aid. Talks have been underway since last week with the ministries in this direction. “We will choose the best and most advantageous options for Germany, for German consumers and taxpayers”, said Friday the Minister of Economy Robert Habeck. Olaf Scholz’s ruling coalition this week passed emergency bailout legislation for energy operators. In mid-June, Gazprom reduced gas deliveries to Germany by 60% via its Nord Stream gas pipeline. Berlin denounced a decision ” Politics “. (With MAP)
