The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) has temporarily appointed the energy regulator Bundesnetzagentur as fiduciary for the Gazprom Germania Group until 30 September 2022. The Ministry wants to review the sale of the company by Gazprom Export to Russian companies Palmary and Gazprom export business services (GPEBS) and assess who is behind the buyers in commercial and legal terms before approving the transaction. Indeed, the acquisition of a critical infrastructure operator by a non-EU investor must first be approved by the BMWK.
Until then, Gazprom Germania was fully owned by Gazprom Export (100% Gazprom) and active in gas trading, gas transport and the operation of gas storage facilities. Through its subsidiaries Wingas and Astora, Gazprom Germania holds a working gas storage capacity of around 6 bcm in Germany and Austria, along with stakes in gas storages in Serbia, and the Czech Republic.
In late March 2022, the European Commission proposed a new mandatory certification scheme for owners of gas storage infrastructure, to force those "posing a security risk to Europe" to cede control or give up ownership of storage sites. Gas storage levels in Gazprom's facilities in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and other EU countries were found significantly lower than in non-Gazprom storage sites in the summer 2021, raising suspicions over Gazprom's strategy to keep low storage levels before the invasion of Ukraine.