Germany’s Uniper leads charge in multi-billion euro battle with Russian gas giant

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the consequences for Europe’s energy landscape were swift and severe. The sudden cutoff of Russian gas supplies shattered long-standing contracts between major European utilities and Gazprom, triggering a deep energy crisis and resulting in billions of euros in losses for companies such as Italy’s Eni, France’s Engie, Austria’s OMV, and Germany’s Uniper, RWE.

In response, these firms initiated arbitration proceedings against Gazprom, a standard but often protracted legal route. While companies like RWE have only recently won cases after nearly three years, it remains unclear how much compensation has been collected, Bloomberg reports.

Amid this complex legal environment, Uniper SE stands out. Once Germany’s largest buyer of Russian gas, Uniper announced earlier this year that it had already received significant payouts—estimated in the three-digit millions—though the company declined to disclose exact figures.

Uniper’s success stems from an innovative legal approach combining arbitration with emergency court rulings. Shortly after the invasion, its lawyers filed for an emergency ruling in Weiden, Bavaria—a critical entry point for Russian gas. Although the initial €5 billion advance request was denied, Uniper appealed in Nuremberg, where it secured permission to collect €3.65 billion, followed by additional rulings totaling around €8 billion by the end of 2022. The company ultimately won a parallel €13.5 billion arbitration award in June 2024.

“You have to be able to prove an emergency,” explained Tino Schneider, a Frankfurt-based litigator not involved in the case. “Uniper’s existence was at risk. Not every creditor meets these requirements.”

Enforcing these multi-billion euro rulings remains challenging. Uniper had to identify Gazprom’s claims against other companies to target assets for seizure, a complicated process often requiring patience and asset tracing. “You have to search and fiddle around a lot,” said arbitration expert Anke Meier. “That’s especially true if you can’t enforce the ruling in your adversary’s home country.”

Uniper reportedly began collecting from Gazprom’s debtors in late 2023 but declined to specify details.

Karl Pörnbacher, an attorney unaffiliated with Uniper, noted: “The new thing was that Uniper was able to use this instrument to collect money on a claim. That was pretty inventive and apparently also quite effective.”

Schneider added: “There’s a race between creditors and you have to try to be as quick as possible. If someone else grabs an asset first, it’s gone.”

By Vafa Guliyeva