Latvijas Gaze banned from public procurements

RIGA - The UK has placed members of the supervisory board of Latvijas Gaze natural gas utility, representing Russian company Gazprom, on the sanctions list, while Russia's inclusion in the list of offshore territories has effectively prevented Latvijas Gaze from participating in Latvian public procurements, Latvian Television's analytical news program De Facto reported on Sunday.

The sanctions list includes Kirill Seleznov, Chairman of the supervisory board of Latvijas Gaze, and Yelena Mikhailova.

However, the TV pointed out that while the ministries were "sorting out the paperwork" to put Russia on the sanctions list, Latvijas Gaze still managed to win contracts worth more than EUR 1.5 million.

The Procurement Supervision Bureau (IUB) noted that that gas from Latvijas Gaze cannot be bought by institutions that will use it to heat their premises, however, gas can be purchased by heating companies.

The Latvian government, however, admitted that several months after the European decision to put Russia on the offshore list, Latvijas Gaze still was able participate in the procurements. In order for the offshore status to take effect in Latvia, the government needed four and a half months to put it into the Cabinet of Ministers regulations.

The Finance Ministry stressed that Latvia had acted relatively quickly, as the local list is usually only updated at the end of the year. 

As reported, in 2022 Latvijas Gaze posted EUR 702.604 million in turnover, up 32.5 percent from 2021, while the company's profit increased several times to EUR 40.824 million.

Latvijas Gaze's largest shareholders are Russian Gazprom (34 percent), Rietumu Banka (28.97 percent), German Uniper Ruhrgas International GmbH (18.26 percent) and Itera Latvija (16 percent).