Anyway, this time everything works. Almost exactly a year ago, Wintershall invited Dea to present its business figures. All preparations were completed, the dial-in links were sent. But hours before that, Russian tanks roll into Ukraine, and the war begins. “From our point of view, today is not a day to talk about balance sheet figures,” explains Wintershall Dea – and cancels the conversation about it. From today’s perspective, it looks like a portent.
This Thursday, the Kassel group invites you again to the presentation of figures, it is a balance sheet under the sign of the war. The group reports a total loss of EUR 4.8 billion, including a EUR 7 billion loss from the write-off of the entire Russian business. The numbers are only good if you factor out the cause of the war: Because beyond Russia, Wintershall Dea earned well, mainly due to the high prices for oil and gas. Adjusted for special effects, including depreciation, the surplus rose from 403 to 928 million euros. By contrast, the group has not received any dividends from Russia since the beginning of the war, and the Kremlin skimmed off the additional income from high gas prices by decree.
“This chapter of our history is closed,” says the boss
Hardly any other company has been affected by global politics like Wintershall Dea. For three decades, the group was closely intertwined with Russia. Through a deal with Gazprom, it entered natural gas production in western Siberia in 2015 and gave up its natural gas storage facilities for this – a decision that will later take revenge in many ways. Wintershall Dea also has a stake in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the Baltic Sea. The group already wrote off a billion for this in March last year. On the other hand, the company still holds a 15.5 percent stake in the neighboring pipeline Nord Stream 1.
On Thursday, Wintershall CEO Marion Mehren was “crystal clear” about business in Russia. “There’s no going back,” he says. “This chapter of our history is closed.” Just over a month ago, the company decided to “leave Russia in an orderly manner and in compliance with all applicable legal obligations.” When exactly that will be, Mehren cannot say even a month later. That doesn’t happen “overnight”. At the same time, all possibilities are being explored to reduce Russia’s losses. About investment guarantees, such as those given by the German state. “We will do everything that is possible,” says Mehren.
But there is also damage that is not reflected in any balance sheet. In front of the Wintershall branch in Berlin, activists pour fake blood over the company logo on Thursday. “Ukrainian blood is on the hands of Wintershall Dea,” says Svitlana Romanko from the “Razom We Stand” movement. After all, last year the group fueled the war with hundreds of millions in tax money. Recently there have also been reports about gas derivatives from the Wintershall joint ventures, which were used to produce kerosene for fighter jets. The group rejected that.
Just over half of daily production was outside Russia in 2022
CEO Mehren now prefers to talk about the future beyond Russia, for which the company is preparing. To put it simply, it should consist of taking carbon out of the ground and bringing carbon dioxide underground. On the one hand, “moderate growth” in the exploration and production of oil and gas is planned, for example in countries such as Norway, Mexico, Egypt and Algeria. There were also “a lot of positive developments” here last year, says Mehren. However, just over half of the group’s daily production last year was outside of Russia.
In the future, this should be increasingly joined by a business that increases “carbon management” calls – the handling of captured greenhouse gases. The aim is to save 20 to 30 million tons of carbon dioxide annually by 2040. That would correspond to around three to four percent of current German emissions. Several countries, including Norway and Denmark, are currently designating underground storage in which CO₂ could be stored, often in former gas reservoirs. German industry in particular is interested in this: Carbon capture and storage, or CCS for short, can also be used to store away emissions that cannot be technically avoided. The gas industry also has CCS discovered for itself: You could extract the CO₂ from the natural gas, store it underground – and sell the end product as “blue” hydrogen. “We’re looking at storage licenses,” says Mehren. This business is still relatively young.
Mehren’s message this Thursday is clear: Wintershall Dea, the impression should be created, got two black eyes and a few broken ribs in Russia. But that too shall pass.