Dear Vladimir,
Germany’s BASF – the world’s largest chemical company – wants the public to think it is doing the right thing. The company stated in April that they would soon begin winding down their non-food related businesses in Russia and Belarus.
Despite the war in Ukraine, in 2022 a BASF subsidiary, Wintershall, has piped €14 billion worth of Russian gas across Germany, and made €400 million from its Siberian gas and oil fields.
Just one day after BASF announced winding down operations in Russia, Wintershall confirmed that they would keep drilling for Russian fossil fuels with Gazprom, Russia’s state-run oil and gas company.
This is a lucrative partnership, one which has made Wintershall €400 million between January and March of this year alone.
Read more.
Russia’s war machine is fuelled by revenue from Germany’s gas addiction. In March, with the war in Ukraine well underway, 40 percent of Germany’s gas came from Russia.
This is yet another example of companies choosing to prioritise profits over people.
As a company that has helped Russia’s gas industry expand, helped Kremlin-owned Gazprom produce gas, perpetuated Germany’s Russian gas addiction, and profits from its Russian operations, BASF now has a particular responsibility to help the Ukrainian people.
As such, BASF should:
- Immediately close down and exit Wintershall’s gas and oil operations in Russia.
- Immediately donate all profits made from the production and transport of Russian gas and oil since the invasion to the Ukrainian victims of Russia’s war.
- Work with the German government to end the importation and transmission of all Russian gas into the country as soon as possible.
We need actions to match the PR promises. And if they don’t, we’ll be watching.
Onwards,
Global Witness
