Gazprom says has 'terminated' participation in German subsidiary Gazprom Germania

Russia's state-controlled Gazprom said April 1 it had "terminated" its participation in its Germany-based subsidiary Gazprom Germania and all of its assets.

In a statement, Gazprom said a notice of its termination -- which it implemented on March 31 -- had been published April 1.

"The Gazprom Group has terminated its participation in the German company Gazprom Germania GmbH and all of its assets, including Gazprom Marketing & Trading," it said.

"The corresponding notice of a material fact was published today," it said.

Gazprom Germania is a 100% owned subsidiary of Gazprom Export, itself a wholly owned unit of Gazprom.

European assets held under the umbrella of Gazprom Germania include trading and storage assets such as London-based Gazprom Marketing & Trading, Switzerland-based Gazprom Schweiz, and Germany-based traders WIEH and Wingas, and storage operator Astora.

It is not immediately clear what impact Gazprom's move to terminate its participation in Gazprom Germania will have on the operations of its subsidiary companies.

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EC raids

On March 31, the European Commission said it had carried out raids on the offices of several gas companies in Germany on March 29 over concerns of breaches of anti-competition rules.

It followed media reports that the EC had raided the premises of two Germany-based subsidiaries of Gazprom -- Gazprom Germania and Wingas.

The EC did not identify the companies involved, saying only that they were active in the supply, transmission and storage of gas, with an EC spokesperson later March 31 saying that the EC was not able to confirm the identities of the companies inspected.

The spokesperson also said that no formal investigation had yet been launched into any company that could have violated EU anti-trust rules.

The EC has in recent months said it would look into allegations of anti-competitive market behavior by Gazprom following a number of complaints.

Russian gas supplies into Europe slowed in the second half of 2021 despite record-high prices, with deliveries falling further in the first weeks of 2022.

Gazprom has also left its storage sites in Germany and Austria at close to empty.

Gazprom has previously denied deliberately withholding gas from Europe, saying repeatedly that it was supplying gas to Europe in line with its contractual obligations.

EC officials have become increasingly vocal on Russian gas supply behavior, with EC Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis saying in late January that the EC was looking into whether Gazprom had acted according to EU energy market rules.