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German North Sea driller keeps working with Kremlin despite vow to quit Russia

 The logo of Gazprom - REUTERS
The logo of Gazprom - REUTERS

The Kremlin is to continue reaping millions from the North Sea after Gazprom’s German business partner there claimed it was powerless to do anything about the situation.

Gazprom is still extracting gas from the North Sea in partnership with Wintershall Dea despite its pledge last week to abandon ties to Russia.

Wintershall Dea said it would pull out of the country in protest at the Kremlin’s war, saying it was “incompatible with our values”.

However, the North Sea joint venture, Netherlands-based Wintershall Noordzee, is still in place. Wintershall Dea said Gazprom’s interest in the concern, through subsidiary Gazprom EP International B.V., was a “difficult situation” but claimed it had “no means to change this.”

Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrats leader, said it was “totally unacceptable that gas taken from UK territory is bolstering the coffers of Putin’s illegal war against Ukraine".

Gazprom’s UK subsidiary paid a €33m [£29m] dividend to its Holland-based parent in the Gazprom group in September.

Russia’s state gas giant has interests in English, German and Danish sectors of the basin through its joint venture with producer Wintershall Dea.

Wintershall Noordzee drills gas from fields including Sillimanite which stretches across UK and Dutch waters, with gas sent to Holland.

The company’s licences pre-date the war. There is no suggestion any sanctions or other laws are being broken.

Sir Ed said: “If British gas ends up lining Putin’s pockets, the Conservatives are still failing to be tough enough with Russia.”

While energy secretary in 2015, Sir Ed ordered Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman’s LetterOne Group to sell North Sea oil and gas fields it had bought from RWE.

LetterOne Group owns a 27.3pc stake in Wintershall Dea. The remaining 72.7pc is owned by German chemicals group BASF.

Mr Fridman’s shares in LetterOne were frozen indefinitely in March after he was sanctioned by the EU.

The UK and the EU have taken steps to restrict the Kremlin’s revenues, including through bans on imports of Russian oil.

A spokesman for Wintershall Dea said: “We will continue to honour the contractual relationships that we have with any involved party, and that includes Gazprom.

“Clearly it is a difficult situation for the Joint Venture that Gazprom is still a shareholder. But we as a company have of course no means to change this.”

A government spokesman said: “In light of Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and weaponisation of energy, the Government has sanctioned Gazprom and the CEO as well as taken steps to end all imports of Russian fossil fuels including a ban of oil and oil products.

“This field does not supply gas to the UK and the North Sea Transition Authority has strict processes in place for issuing licences.”