Gazprom UK being primed for 'special administration'

The government is making plans to take over the running of Gazprom’s UK retail division, it was reported on Tuesday, as the Russian state-backed energy giant faces increasing pressure over the invasion of Ukraine.

According to Bloomberg, Gazprom Marketing & Trading Retail was set to be placed in ‘special administration’ should it fail.

It cited ‘people familiar with the matter’ as claiming consulting group Teneo was being primed to oversee the company’s operations should the company, which has over 30,000 commercial customers, be put into administration.

The subsidiary, which trades at Gazprom Energy, supplied more than 20% of business gas in the UK in 2020 - double the energy supply of residential supplier Bulb, which was placed into special administration late last year.

“We are in constant contact with our regulator Ofgem and no decision has been taken to appoint a special administrator or supplier of last resort that we know about,” a spokesperson for Gazprom Energy UK told Bloomberg in a statement late on Monday.