FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF (Reuters) -German gas market operator Trading Hub Europe (THE) on Monday released a list of companies that have asked for payments from funds it collects under a new gas levy to be charged to consumers from Oct. 1 through March 2024.
The levy was set a week ago to help importers and distributors cope with soaring gas prices as they replace shortfalls in Russian exports in the midst of East-West tension over the invasion of Ukraine.
The government wants to spread the cost of the levy to all consumers to keep companies liquid enough to maintain an intact gas market.
The following companies have to date made notional claims totalling 34 billion euros ($34.02 billion), a list on the THE website showed. THE said the figure does not represent audited claims.
It is not known which companies have applied for what amount, or what the pay-outs will be.
However, a person familiar with the situation said more than 90% of the total 34 billion euros would go to Uniper and the former Gazprom Germania. Uniper is Germany’s largest importer of Russian gas. The remainder would be divided between the other companies, the person added.
– Switzerland’s AXPO Solutions AG
– Switzerland’s DXT Commodities S.A.
– Germany’s EWE Trading GmbH
– Switzerland-based ENET Energy SA
– International trading house Gunvor Group Ltd
– Germany’s RWE Supply & Trading GmbH
– Gas Marketing & Trading Deutschland GmbH, the German trading arm of Austria’s OMV
– SEFE Marketing & Trading Ltd, the former Gazprom Germania, a group abandoned by Gazprom and temporarily taken under the control of the German energy regulator.
– Uniper, which has already needed a 15 billion euro government bailout due to the crisis
– International trading house Vitol SA
– VNG Handel & Vertrieb GmbH, part of EnBW
– WIEH GmbH, which belonged to the Gazprom Germania group
($1 = 0.9994 euros)
(Reporting by Tom Kaeckenhoff, Vera Eckert and Andreas Rinke; Editing by Jan Harvey, Maria Sheahan and Tomasz Janowski)
