This is information from Business Insider Deutschland of June 13, 2022.
In internal documents obtained by the media, it appears that McKinsey carried out for a decade and for a total fee of around 50 million euros active work of influencing the German authorities to make Russian gas “indispensable to German industrial companies.
In 2010, recalls Business Insider, Russia has been supplying Germany with gas for several decades (since 1973). But the share of Russian gas then remained below 40% of total German consumption and the post-crisis context of 2008 saw demand from German industrialists curbed and growing competition from deliveries of liquefied gas by ship.
To thwart this trend, in July 2010 the Kremlin placed Wladimir Kotenew, the former Russian ambassador to Germany, at the head of Gazprom Germania, the subsidiary of Gazprom in Berlin for the distribution of Russian gas in Europe and Asia.
One of his first initiatives was to take on the boss of McKinsey in Germany, Frank Mattern. Quickly, the latter indicates the favorable role that the cabinet could play in Germany.
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Political lobbying, equity investments, involvement in the construction of pan-European gas infrastructures, organization of events, speeches, publications (in particular of a “energy transition index” favorable to gas): a support plan was quickly set up.
McKinsey is also committed to facilitating access to potential clients as well as high-level departmental officials.
Similarly, McKinsey proposes the establishment of a “political business case” aimed at demonstrating “why Russian gas is indispensable as an integral part of the German energy mix and very directly for German industry”.
Finally, McKinsey pleads for the strengthening of the independence of the German subsidiary vis-à-vis the parent company and vice versa, for the placement of German personalities on the board of directors of the parent company. Thus, the name of former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, known for his closeness to Vladimir Putin and his active support, would thus have been blown by McKinsey.
A contract, which continued until recently – the firm announced the end of its missions in Russia and the relocation of the teams of consultants present in Russia (read our article) –, is concluded at the beginning of 2011.
Asked, the firm indicated that it could not make any comment on past or present relations with its clients, while specifying that it strictly follows the internal rules according to which the firm refuses to take any lobbying action on behalf of his clients.
This appears to contradict some of the documents obtained by Business Insider in which lobbying is explicitly identified as one of the levers for increasing Gazprom’s market share in Germany and Europe.
All these initiatives are in any case not in vain. In 2015, for example, BASF, the German chemicals giant, and Gazprom announced an asset swap. BASF obtains access to a Siberian gas field, Gazprom stakes in German gas reserves among the important ones.
Recently, CNBC had revealed the extent of McKinsey’s missions in Russia with the largest groups in the country (read the article again).
Information that comes as the European Union has decided on an embargo on Russian coal and oil, but not on gas for which several European countries are largely dependent on Russia – 50% of the gas consumed in Germany comes from Russia.
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