Russia's energy giant Gazprom has said it cannot fulfil its gas contracts with Europe.
LONDON — Russia's energy giant is threatening to send less gas to Europe — but Germany, one of its main importers, has rejected the idea.
Majority state-owned Gazprom said Monday that due to unforeseeable circumstances it is not in a position to comply with gas contracts with Europe.
Germany's energy firm Uniper confirmed to CNBC that Gazprom had claimed "force majeure" on its supplies. Force majeure, a legal term, occurs when unforeseeable circumstances prevent one party from fulfilling its contractual duties, in theory absolving them from penalties.
"It is true that we have received a letter from Gazprom Export in which the company claims force majeure retroactively for past and current shortfalls in gas deliveries. We consider this as unjustified and have formally rejected the force majeure claim," Lucas Wintgens, spokesperson for Uniper, told CNBC's Annette Weisbach....
English (US) ·