German government plans to nationalize former subsidiary of Gazprom

This was announced by the Ministry of Economy on Monday, November 14.

“In order to secure the gas supply in Germany, the federal government is transferring the troubled gas company Securing Energy for Europe (SEFE) into federal ownership. To this end, the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Protection ordered capital measures in accordance with the Energy Security Act,” the statement reads. 

The reason for this step is the threat of bankruptcy of the company after the drop in Russian imports, which caused it losses of billions of euros.

SEFE is known to be a key energy company in Germany. It was previously known as Gazprom Germania and belonged to the Russian state company Gazprom. After a non-transparent sale to another Russian company and an attempted liquidation, SEFE has been under the supervision of the Federal Network Agency since April.

After Uniper, SEFE became the second German company to be nationalized as a result of the energy crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine.

• On July 21, Russian economic analyst, oil and gas market specialist Mykhailo Krutikhin said that oil production in Russia will drop by 56%, and Gazprom will be sacrificed by Putin to "punish" the EU. Therefore, due to the termination of gas supplies by Gazprom, SEFE GmbH (Gazprom Germania) suffered serious losses.

• On November 12, it became known that Germany allocated EUR 225.6 million in aid to the former subsidiary of Gazprom. The European Union approved it.