Gazprom sold its shares in Latvia’s main gas company and eventually left the country. The Russian company has been a shareholder of Latvijas gāze for 27 years. Even earlier, Latvia stopped importing Russian gas.
Gazprom disappeared from the Latvijas gāze shareholder register. This information is published by the Latvian gas company. 34% of the shares were acquired by Energy Investment, owned by members of the board of directors of Latvijas gāze, and the Lithuanian company Haupas.
As a result, the management of the gas company became one of its largest shareholders – 27.85%. Chairman of the Board of Directors of Latvijas Gāze Aigars Kalvitis According to LSM, with the purchase of a 34% stake in Gazprom, the management gained control of approximately 63% of the shares.
The company’s management is also studying the possibility of buying shares in Itera Latvia and the German company Uniper Ruhrgas International, which together with Gazprom entered the Latvian company in 1997 after its privatization. At that time, the amount of the transaction was estimated at 80 million euros.
Energy Investments bought Gazprom shares from the Luxembourgish investment fund Marguerite Gas II. The amount is unknown.
Gazprom was Latvia’s largest gas supplier. Following the start of the SVO in Ukraine in 2022, Latvijas Gāze stopped taking volumes from Gazprom and announced the purchase of Russian gas from a third party. The Russian company stopped deliveries.
The 2022 energy crisis and record fuel prices came as a shock to Latvia. Consumers have significantly reduced demand. Experts noted that the local gas market is deteriorating.
