Uniper sees Russian gas imports as safe despite supply stop to Poland, Bulgaria

Uniper's chief financial officer Tiina Tuomela told analysts that flows on the key Yamal pipeline through Poland destined for other recipients were not affected for the time being. Uniper was using a mechanism that allowed payments in euros, which are turned into roubles on the Russian bank side, in line with the European Union assessment which deemed it as not breaching sanctions, she said.

Uniper sees Russian gas flows into Germany as secure for now despite a halt in supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, saying transit volumes passing those countries to other destinations would be unaffected, it said on Wednesday.

The company, which released preliminary first-quarter earnings late on Tuesday, also confirmed it expected to be able to pay for gas under a scheme proposed by Moscow, which demands that payments should be made in roubles. Uniper's chief financial officer Tiina Tuomela told analysts that flows on the key Yamal pipeline through Poland destined for other recipients were not affected for the time being.

Uniper was using a mechanism that allowed payments in euros, which are turned into roubles on the Russian bank side, in line with the European Union assessment which deemed it as not breaching sanctions, she said. Russia's Gazprom said it had halted gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland for failing to pay for gas in roubles, the Kremlin's toughest response yet to sanctions imposed by the West over the conflict in Ukraine.

Shares fell more than 5% after Uniper reported a preliminary 3 billion euro ($3.18 billion) net loss for the first quarter, citing impairment charges related to its Russian unit Unipro and impairment losses connected to the suspended Nord Stream 2 pipeline. ($1 = 0.9420 euros)

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