The following will deal with the last chapter of German-Russian gas relations for the time being. No market participant could have imagined such a chapter in his wildest dreams – or nightmares.
1.1 What happened? To have an overview of the events around Gazprom Germania (GPG) at the end of March and beginning of April, I think it makes sense to present the chronology:
25 March: Gazprom Germania transfers its shares in the GPG Group to Gazprom Export Business Services. The company is wholly owned by Gazprom Export and was probably founded last autumn. The managing director is an old acquaintance of the German gas industry, Gennady Ryndin. He was financial director at Wingas until 2017 and has since been deputy general director for economics and finance at Gazprom Export. At Wingas, so the story goes, he had an excellent reputation. Until 2017, German and Russian managing directors worked very cooperatively with each other.
31 March: Gazprom Export transfers all voting rights and a 0.1 per cent share in Gazprom Export Business Services to the joint-stock company Palmary. For more on Palmary, see the editorial. The remaining shares in Gazprom Export Business Services are taken over by the company itself...