The liquidity crisis at the gas group Uniper is coming to a head. On Monday morning, the company announced that it had now fully utilized the existing credit line from the state development bank KfW in the amount of two billion euros.
A few hours later, the group announced that it had submitted an application to increase the line. This should increase the pressure on the federal government to put together a rescue package for the subsidiary of the Finnish group Fortum.
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Uniper is in trouble because of the lack of gas deliveries from Russia. The group has to buy more expensive gas on the market to fulfill its contracts, which leads to liquidity problems. According to company boss Klaus-Dieter Maubach, daily funds in the mid double-digit million range flow out at Uniper. As a result, Uniper submitted an application for state aid ten days ago. But an agreement is not yet in sight. The talks are ongoing, Uniper announced on Monday. It is currently not foreseeable when they could be completed.
Uniper submitted the now hoped-for increase in the credit line in addition to and separately from the requested state stabilization measures. “In order to secure our liquidity and to fulfill our supply contracts with our customers, we are forced to take steps that must clearly be described as emergency measures,” said CEO Maubach. Uniper originally agreed the credit line with the KfW banking group at the beginning of January in view of the looming war in Ukraine at the time and, as a precaution, extended it until the end of April 2023 at the end of March.
Uniper is central to the German gas supply
The company also began withdrawing gas from its own storage facilities early last week. According to Uniper, this is also done to conserve funds and fulfill contracts. According to the announcement on Monday, the quantities withdrawn within a week amount to more than two terawatt hours (TWh). Furthermore, the group informed its customers about the current market situation and pointed out the possibility of rising prices. Uniper plays a central role in Germany’s energy supply and supplies more than a hundred municipal utilities and industrial companies.
The reason for the delay in the talks with the federal government is likely to be different ideas about how the help for Uniper should look like. The parent company Fortum is planning to restructure Uniper – with the aim of founding a security of supply company owned by the federal government. The group holds 78 percent of Uniper and is more than 50 percent owned by the Finnish state. Uniper, on the other hand, submitted a proposal to the federal government that, among other things, contains equity components through which the federal government could invest in Uniper. The proposal also provides for an increase in the KfW credit line.
Comments from Finland and Fortum were “constructive” after the meeting, but the negotiations are at a delicate stage, JPMorgan analyst Vincent Ayral recently wrote. It will probably be awaited whether Russia will send gas through the pipeline again after the Nord Stream 1 maintenance shutdown.
The Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which is important for Germany, is expected to be maintained until July 21, so that no more gas will flow through the pipes under the Baltic Sea. But even before that, the Russian state-owned company Gazprom had cut deliveries to 40 percent and justified this with a missing turbine. The federal government considers this argument to be false and fears that no more gas will flow through Nord Stream 1 even after the maintenance.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220718-99-62411/4 (dpa)
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