STOCKHOLM, Sept 5 — Finland and Sweden yesterday announced plans to offer billions of dollars in liquidity guarantees to power companies in their countries after Russia’s Gazprom shut the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, deepening Europe’s energy crisis.
When Lehman Brothers, the fourth-largest US investment bank at the time, filed for bankruptcy in September 2008 with more than US$600 billion in debt, it triggered the worst parts of the US financial crisis. “We appreciate Finnish and Swedish governments taking swift action to stabilise the Nordic derivatives market and support Nordic energy companies in time of crisis,” the company tweeted.
Lower gas flows from Russia both before and after its February invasion of Ukraine have pushed up European prices and driven up electricity costs.