Struggling Uniper seeks another €4bn from German government

In order to secure short term liquidity, Uniper has requested a further draw down of €2 billion ($2 billion) under its existing credit facility with the KfW banking group. It has also requested an extension of the KfW credit facility by an additional €4 billion ($3,99 billion).

Uniper's lack of liquidity is caused by Russian gas curtailment and the associated price increases for gas and electricity.

According to Uniper, the shortfall in Russia's contractual deliveries now amounts to 80%. To mitigate this and ensure supply for customers, these gas supplies are being procured at much higher spot prices.

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Gas prices have increased more than sixfold in a year, said Uniper in its latest statement, confirming cash losses of well over EUR 100 million per day.

Uniper's liquidity is also being negatively impacted by the security deposits for sales gas transactions for gas and electricity. These are dependent on the current energy price which have approximately doubled within the last month.

Klaus-Dieter Maubach, CEO of Uniper: "The systematic nature of the energy markets means that as long as energy prices continue to rise in Europe, the need for liquid funds will also increase.

"We are working at full speed with the German government on a permanent solution to this emergency as otherwise Uniper will no longer be able to fulfill its system-critical function for Germany and Europe.

"The extension of the credit line requested today secures the energy supplies we have promised our customers and stabilizes the energy markets."

In July this year, Uniper and its Finnish parent company Fortum agreed to a bailout package from the German government. The terms included the State taking a 30% equity stake in Uniper SE and the State-owned KfW bank providing an additional €7 billion ($7 billion) in liquidity support through an increase of its existing credit facility from the current €2 billion ($2 billion) to €9 billion ($9.2 billion).