Gazprom: Portsmouth City Council sticks with former Russian firm as it is now German owned

By Josh Wright

Published 21st Jun 2022, 21:43 BST

PORTSMOUTH City Council's multi-million pound gas contract will not be cancelled, its cabinet has confirmed.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the city council had agreed to use a break clause to end the deal with Gazprom Marketing and Trading, which at the time was wholly-owned by the Russian government.

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However, the subsidiary's parent company, Gazprom Germania, has since been taken over the German energy regulator. It is now unable to buy Russian gas and has been sanctioned by the Russian government.

placeholder image — The logo of Russia's energy giant Gazprom at one of its petrol stations in Moscow Picture: Kiril Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images)

The £5.5m contract was signed at the end of last year and runs for three years. The council had planned to use a break clause to end it early and this was expected to cost £57,000.

However, council leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson said the cost would have been about £1m a year due rising gas prices.

'It's clear now that this is no longer a Russian company since it has now been nationalised by the German state,' he said.

'The issue we were trying to get around is no longer there.'

The decision was agreed unanimously at Tuesday's cabinet meeting.

Portsmouth City Council Ukraine