Securing Energy for Europe

SEFE Securing Energy for Europe GmbH, a company registered in Berlin, Germany, is headquarters of a diversified conglomerate, comprises 40 entities operating in more than 20 countries in Europe, Asia and North America. Under the former name Gazprom Germania GmbH it was a 100% subsidiary of the world's largest natural gas company, Gazprom, from 1990 to 2022. Since 2022, Germany's federal energy regulator – the Federal Network Agency – has controlled the company as a temporary trustee. In June 2023, SEFE signed a 20-year contract for 2.25 million tonnes of LNG per year from a US company.

General overview
Securing Energy for Europe is active in natural gas sales and marketing, trading, exploration and production, as well as in several large underground storage facilities, many formerly partially owned by Gazprom-Germania. Companies of the group operate in Europe, USA, Central Asia and Singapore.

Securing Energy for Europe owns shares in:
 * Wingas (100%), with about 18% share of the gas market in Germany a joint venture between Securing Energy for Europe GmbH and Wintershall, the largest crude oil and natural gas producer in Germany.
 * Vemex s.r.o. (51%), located in Prague, and controlling about 10-12% of the Czech gas market.
 * Gas Project Development Central Asia AG (50%).
 * Wintershall Erdgas Handelshaus Zug AG (WIEH) (50%).
 * ZMB (Schweiz) AG (100%)

Questions about activities
Roman Kupchinsky, who immigrated from a refugee camp in Austria to Brooklyn, NY, in 1949 and worked for the CIA, was the director of the Ukrainian Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty from 1989 to 2002. He was a partner in the risk analysis firm AZEast Group until his death in 2010. In his 2008 appearance before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, overseen by Sen. Joe Biden, Kupchinsky testified:

"Gazprom, with the silent support of the Kremlin has set up 50 or so middlemen companies, silently linked to Gazprom and scattered throughout Europe - such as the Centrex group of companies and the Gazprom Germania network - which do not add any value to the price of Russian gas being sold on European markets; yet they earn enormous sums of money which appears to simply vanish through shell companies in Cyprus and in Liechtenstein."

German investigations have raised concerns about past connections between senior managers in the company, the East German government, and the Stasi.

European regulators (after the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute) insisted, foreign strategic energy supplies should operate under the EU law. Just as energies should be sold on the free market and not via direct contracts. Therefore, Gazprom was forced to set up a net of companies (middlemen) operating under EU law. During early 2022, Gazprom-associated gas storage facilities became unusually low. In late March 2022, Gazprom Group transferred ownership of Gazprom Germania which was then exited. The German authorities viewed the transfer as illegal for such critical infrastructure of the gas handling, and issued a legal order to control the assets of the former Gazprom Germania.

In May 2022, Russia issued sanctions against Gazprom Germania and other gas companies.

In August 2022, the German media learned that the German government had secretly created a company for the possible nationalization of SEFE. The company was originally called VERONIKA Zweiunddreizigste Vermögensverwaltungsgesellschaft, but on June 3, it was renamed Securing Energy for Europe Holding GmbH (SEEHG). The company's managing directors are two CMS Hasche Sigle lawyers. The Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs has confirmed that they are aware of the company's founding. According to a spokesman for the ministry, the company was created "solely as a precautionary measure".

On November 14, 2022, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action decreed that the company would immediately be nationalized and full ownership was transferred to the German state. This action was previously authorized by the European Commission.

Management
Until 2022, the CEO (Senior Managing Director, Hauptgeschäftsführer) of Gazprom Germania was Vladimir Kotenev (Владимир Котенев). Before being appointed the new head of the former Gazprom Germania, Kotenev worked in the Russian foreign service. From 2004 to 2010 Kotenev was the Russian ambassador to Germany.

Since June 2022, Egbert Laege is the CEO (Senior Managing Director, Hauptgeschäftsführer) of SEFE Securing Energy for Europe.