Germany’s Uniper seeks €4B credit line to offset rising gas prices

By Sibel Morrow

ANKARA (AA) - German energy utility company Uniper on Monday said it requested from state-lender KfW to extend the credit line by an additional €4 billion over rising natural gas and electricity prices and declining Russian gas supply.

The company said it drew down €2 billion under its existing credit facility with the KfW banking group, fully using the credit facility of €9 billion.

Requesting an extension of the KfW credit facility by an additional €4 billion, the company said it aims to secure the company's short-term liquidity as it is currently impacted by "the reduced Russian gas deliveries and the associated significant price increases for gas and electricity."

The company received only part of the contractually agreed gas supply from Russia since June 14, causing around an 80% shortfall in deliveries, it said.

Despite trying to procure the missing volumes at the market to ensure the security of supply for its customers, Uniper said the costs have increased more than six-fold in a year.

"As Uniper has so far borne the higher procurement costs alone, it is currently accumulating cash losses of well over €100 million per day," it said.

It underlined that the relevant electricity price indices in Europe have increased rapidly, driven by the gas crisis, which have almost doubled from an already high level within a month.

"The systematic nature of the energy markets means that as long as energy prices continue to rise in Europe, the need for liquid funds will also increase. Uniper acts as a critical link in the German market by reliably supplying gas to numerous municipal utilities and industrial companies.

Company's CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach said Russian natural gas supply disruptions are forcing them to procure the required natural gas at a high price on the market and underlined that Uniper has borne the losses incurred almost alone since the supply cuts began in June.

"As of mid-August, that is a total of over 5 billion euros – and it has continued to rise since. We are working at full speed with the German government on a permanent solution to this emergency as otherwise, Uniper will no longer be able to fulfill its system-critical function for Germany and Europe. The extension of the credit line requested today secures the energy supplies we have promised our customers and stabilizes the energy markets," he said.