EXCLUSIVE-Germany in talks to provide more state aid for gas imports - sources
FRANKFURT, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Germany is in advanced talks to provide billions of euros in additional guarantees to Sefe, formerly Gazprom Germania, to ensure the firm can honour a huge contract to supply gas to German importer VNG, two people familiar with the matter said.
Under the deal, Sefe would receive additional government-backed credit lines to fulfil a contract under which it supplies 65 terawatt hours (TWh) of gas to VNG - part of German utility EnBW - each year, the people said.
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An agreement could be reached as soon as this week, one of the people said, adding talks were ongoing and the outcome could still change.
One person with knowledge of the discussions said the state could give a guarantee that could, in turn, underpin a loan to Sefe from state bank KfW. That money could then be used to buy gas on the open market.
Germany's economy ministry, Sefe, VNG and EnBW all declined to comment.
VNG and Sefe have been roiled by a complete halt of Russian gas supplies, forcing them to buy replacement volumes at sky-high prices to meet contracts and forcing them to ask the state for money to keep going.
($1 = 1.0061 euros) (Reporting by Christoph Steitz; Additional reporting by John O'Donnell and Holger Hansen; Editing by Mark Potter)