Wintershall Dea to write off $1 billion Nord Stream 2 financing

(Bloomberg) — Wintershall Dea AG will write off its financing of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project totaling around 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) as pressure grows on energy companies to exit business interests connected to Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine. 

The German oil and gas producer, jointly owned by BASF SE and Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman’s investment firm LetterOne, won’t pursue new projects in Russia, it said Wednesday in a statement. The company has also decided “to basically stop payments to Russia with immediate effect.”

Wintershall “remains involved” in the existing Yuzhno Russkoye and Achimov gas production projects in Siberia, it said, adding that those operations produce fuel for the European market.

In a matter of days, energy producers have set out plans to exit Russian investments at a likely cost of tens of billions of dollars, upending relationships with Moscow that have been cultivated over decades. Some, like Shell Plc or Exxon Mobil Corp., have decided to ditch investments in Russia altogether, while France’s TotalEnergies SE will no longer provide capital for new projects in the country.

The Nord Stream 2 link was completed in December, but its approval process was virtually stopped after the invasion. Gazprom PJSC is the sole owner of the link, though five European energy companies -- Wintershall, OMV AG, Shell, Engie SA and Uniper SE -- provided loans to finance the $11 billion project.