Wintershall Dea says 'misguided' to focus on gas supply, pipelines amid Ukraine crisis

Germany's Wintershall Dea said Feb. 22 it was "misguided" to focus on gas supply and pipelines amid the current crisis over Ukraine after Germany moved to suspend the certification process of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

Wintershall Dea, which helped finance the Nord Stream 2 project and has a number of upstream gas assets in Russia, said the current situation was "extremely alarming."

"A further escalation of military tensions would have terrible consequences [and] would set back our entire continent by years. And, with it, the European and Russian economies," it said in emailed comments to S&P Global Platts.

"So, when considering economic consequences, it is misguided to focus solely on the topic of natural gas supplies and pipelines," it said.

Wintershall Dea was a cofinancier of the Nord Stream 2 project along with Shell, Austria's OMV, France's Engie and Germany's Uniper.

In emailed comments, OMV said it had taken note of the reports that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had said the certification procedure was now suspended.

"We don't want to comment on political messages and discussions," it said.

"OMV is one of the financing partners of Nord Stream 2. A financing agreement was concluded for this purpose. The repayments started in the second half of last year."

OMV loaned a total Eur729 million ($822 million) to help finance the pipeline project, and began receiving repayments and interest payments from Gazprom in the second half of 2021.

Originally, the five European companies committed Eur950 million ($1.13 billion) to the project, representing around 50% of the total cost.

A spokesperson for Shell said the company had no comment "at the moment."

Speaking Feb. 21 during a call with journalists, Wael Sawan, Shell's head of integrated gas, also said that Shell paid its last loan installment to the project in the second quarter of 2020.

"We're just a lender to Nord Stream 2," Sawan said.

Engie could not be reached for comment Feb. 22, but its CEO Catherine MacGregor said Feb. 15 after the company released its fourth-quarter 2021 earnings that the pipeline had an important role to play in Europe's energy security.

"We will be looking at Nord Stream 2 and its future with great attention. Not just because we are financing partners, but also because we believe it is important to the security of supply of gas in Europe," MacGregor said.

Uniper could also not be reached for immediate comment Feb. 22.