The gas importer VNG has submitted an application for stabilization measures to the Federal Ministry of Economics. The company announced this on Friday. The company is a subsidiary of the energy giant EnBW.
“The measures are aimed at absorbing the current accumulation of significant losses from the replacement procurement of natural gas and to enable business activities to be continued,” says the ad hoc release.
And further: “At the same time, the ongoing talks between VNG AG and its shareholders and the federal government about possibilities for stabilizing the company will be continued.”
The reason for the application for state aid is that “gas quantities have to be procured on the energy markets at significantly higher prices in order to continue to be able to reliably supply VNG customers at significantly lower prices.”
The situation has “deteriorated significantly since August”, resulting in “considerable losses” for the company.
As the third largest German gas importer and storage operator, the VNG Group is systemically important for the security of supply in Germany and structurally important for Saxony and eastern Germany. The VNG Group supplies around 400 municipal utilities and industrial companies with gas (2021: around 20% of Germany’s gas requirements).
