Poland takes over Gazprom’s Polish assets

Poland’s government has announced that it is taking over Gazprom’s assets in the country, meaning the Russian firm’s share in the company managing the Polish section of the Yamal gas pipeline. Poland argues that the move will ensure the security of the country’s critical infrastructure amid Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

A temporary receivership of Gazprom’s assets, covering all of its shares in System Gazociągów Tranzytowych EuRoPol Gaz S.A., was established on Monday.

EuRoPol Gaz is the owner of the Polish part of the Yamal-Europe gas transmission pipeline. Russia’s Gazprom and Poland’s PGNiG (which was incorporated into the Orlen group earlier this month) each held a 48% stake in the company, while 4% is owned by Gas Trading of the Orlen group.

The route of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline (source: Samuel Bailey/Wikimedia Commons, under CC BY-SA 3.0)

“The establishment of the receivership is necessary for the proper functioning of EuRoPol Gaz, including the avoidance of decision-making paralysis in this company and ensuring the security of critical infrastructure intended for the transmission of gas,” said development minister Waldemar Buda.

“We are doing all we can to counteract Russia’s aggression and eliminate Russian capital and influence,” he added. “Expropriation is not possible under the Polish constitution hence we decided to put in place compulsory management.”

“This decision serves to improve Poland’s energy and economic security, especially now that we are dealing with Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and Putin’s actions to destabilise the situation in Europe,” said Buda.

This is not the first temporary receivership of Russian energy assets in Poland since the start of the war. Last month, Buda decided to introduce the same measures for the Russian company Novatek Green Energy.

Temporary receivership may be established by the development minister for a company included in the interior ministry’s sanctions list when it is necessary to ensure its operation to maintain jobs or provide services to the public. This measure can also be applied when it is a matter of protecting the economic interests of the state.

Poland announced sanctions against Gazprom and other Russian entities and individuals in April, in an attempt to curb the outflow of billions of zloty from Poland to Russia.

On Monday, Germany made a similar move to Poland by nationalising the former German subsidiary of Gazprom months after it was put under the control of a government agency, reported Associated Press.

Since the war began in February, Russia has slashed supplies of natural gas to Europe, creating an energy crisis that is fuelling inflation. Germany hasn’t received any gas from Russia since the end of August, while Poland was cut off in April.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Poland has stepped up its efforts to diversify energy sources, including through increased imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

It has also taken a number of measures to mitigate the negative impact of the energy crisis on its citizens, including delaying the transition away from coal, capping coal and electricity prices, and offering one-off allowances for households to buy fuel for heating.

Main image credit: EuRoPol Gaz press kit

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.