THE GOVERNMENT is preparing to nationalise Gazprom's British supply arm within days, amid a stand-off between the Kremlin-backed firm and a Wall Street banking giant.

Ministers are drawing up plans to place Gazprom Marketing & Trading Retail (GM&T) - the trading name of UK firm Gazprom Energy - in public hands if it fails to reassure financial counter-parties about an ownership change, according to Sky News.

The potential buyer remains undisclosed, with Gazprom announcing last week it had "ceased its participation" in its British division without providing any details concerning its new owners, Estimates from Bloomberg News suggest the price of maintaining its existing contracts could reach £4bn.

This would pass the reported £3bn it has cost to maintain Bulb Energy and its 1.7m customers over the winter.

(c) 2022 City A.M., source Newspaper