Patricia Weiss, Christoph Steitz, and Christoph Steitz

FRANKFURT, Reuters -Wintershall Dea (MCX:), one of the cofunders Gazprom’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline, said Thursday that a withdrawal of the project from political grounds would allow its operator to file compensation claims.

This group made the remarks as Moscow invaded Ukraine just days after Germany decided to stop certifying its pipeline under the first wave of sanctions.

The company’s annual report stated, “Should Nord Stream 2 not be commissioned by political intervention,” referring to Nord Stream 2 AG.

“Wintershall Dea currently sees no plausible scenario in which there would be political intervention except for compensation,” stated the company. It is owned by BASF as well as Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman, a LetterOne investor group.

Paul Smith, Wintershall Dea Finance chief said to analysts after the presentation of full-year financial results on Thursday.

He said instead of a questions-and-answers session that is typical for this sort of investor call, the group would set up individual calls in the coming weeks “as and when there is some greater clarity around the events which are unfolding as we speak and we can deal with facts, rather than speculation”.

Wintershall Dea is a combination of Uniper, Shell, Engie, and OMV. Nord Stream 2 AG is one of the financial backers to the project. It has previously reported that it lent 730m euros (821 million) to Nord Stream 2 AG.

Uniper’s shares dropped to 14 months on Thursday after the company said that it was reviewing whether the suspension of the pipeline could cause impairments on the 1 billion euros in project exposure.

($1 = 0.8895 euros)