Uniper seeks billions of euros in compensation from Gazprom
DUESSELDORF, Germany, Nov 30 (Reuters) - German utility Uniper has launched an arbitration process in the hope of securing billions of euros in compensation from Russia's Gazprom over undelivered gas volumes, Uniper CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach said on Wednesday.
The company, which is in the process of being nationalised in a state bailout to survive the energy crisis triggered by the Ukraine war, puts the cost of replacing Russian gas at around 11.6 billion euros ($12.02 billion) to date.
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This amount will continue to grow until the end of 2024, Uniper said. Maubach said he hoped the company would return to profit the following year.
In the first nine months of 2022, the company reported a 40 billion euro ($39.3 billion) net loss, the biggest in German corporate history.
"It's about gas volumes that were contractually agreed with Gazprom but not delivered and for which we had to procure replacements at extremely high market prices and still have to do so," Maubach said in a statement.
"We are pursuing these legal proceedings with all due vigor: We owe this to our shareholders, our employees and the taxpayers," he added.
The proceedings are to take place in Stockholm, Uniper said.
The company also announced measures to further ringfence its Russian business Unipro, which has been up for sale since mid-2021.
While a local buyer has been found, the company said political approval for the transaction was "outstanding and uncertain". ($1 = 0.9653 euros) (Reporting by Tom Kaeckenhoff Writing by Madeline Chambers, Rachel More Editing by Paul Carrel and Jane Merriman)