Russland henter store penger fra Nordsjøen - BBC

 

Dette kan godt være penger som benyttes til kjøp av våpen i Iran, Nordk Korea og Kina. Sanksjoner? My foot! (Red.)

Russian gas giant Gazprom makes £39m profit in North Sea

Published
8 hours ago

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By Ben King

Business reporter, BBC News

Russian energy giant Gazprom earned €45m (£39m) from its gas field in the North Sea last year, accounts show.

Gazprom has been producing gas from the Sillimanite field, which is spread across UK and Dutch waters, since 2020.

Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats said it was "totally unacceptable" that gas from UK territory was supporting "Putin's illegal war against Ukraine".

The government said it would "ratchet up economic pressure" on Russia.

The Sillimanite field, which is 200km from the Dutch coast, is operated in a joint venture between Russian firm Gazprom and German company Wintershall. Gas produced from the field is taken onshore in the Netherlands.

While there is no suggestion the arrangement is illegal, the UK, the US and the EU have introduced tough economic sanctions designed to restrict Russia's ability to profit from energy exports, aimed at limiting its ability to fund its war in Ukraine.

A number of Gazprom executives, including the chief executive Alexei Miller, are under sanctions from the UK government, though Gazprom itself is not. The company still supplies gas to continental Europe via pipelines, though the volumes are much reduced since the war began.

Accounts show that Gazprom International UK, a subsidiary of the Russia energy giant, made a pre-tax profit of €45m in 2022, and paid a €41m dividend to Gazprom International Projects BV, the company's immediate owner in the Netherlands. A further dividend of €1.7m was paid in June this year.

The company's ultimate owner is PJSC Gazprom, based in Moscow.

Gazprom is majority-owned by the Russian state, and is the country's largest taxpayer, contributing $80bn (£63bn) to the Russian government, according to the state news agency TASS. It has also recruited and financed its own militias which have fought on the frontline in Ukraine.