Russia has frozen the assets of the German Linde, which was building a gas terminal in the port of Ust-Luga
3.01.2024 - 16:50
The Russian court issued a decision to seize the Russian assets of the German corporation Linde. The company is one of the largest producers of industrial gases and a contractor for Gazprom’s project to build a plant in the port of Ust-Luga.
In 2021, the joint venture of Gazprom and “RusGazDobychy”, “RusChemAlliance”, concluded a contract with a German company for the design and construction of a gas processing plant in the port of Ust-Luga worth 3 trillion rubles.
Russia transferred an advance of 946.543 million euros to Linde, Reuters reports. However, in May, the German company stopped work on the Russian project due to sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation for its invasion of Ukraine.
On September 23, “RusChemAlliance” informed Linde that it was terminating the contract with it, and demanded the return of the money transferred as an advance.
The German company refused, saying that it was unable to make payments to Gazprom’s account, as this would also be considered a violation of sanctions.
Therefore, the court in the Russian Federation has now seized the branch of Linde GmbH in Samara, as well as shares in 12 enterprises, in particular JSC “Linde Gas Rus”, JSC “Linde Uraltechgaz”, JSC “Linde Gas Novotroitsk”, JSC “Linde Gas Lipetsk”, JSC “Gazprom” Linde Engineering”. In total, Russia froze Linde’s assets worth $488 million.
