A 3D printed gas pipeline is placed in front of the Gazprom logo displayed and the Russian flag in this illustration taken February 8, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

March 21 (Reuters) – The British government is set to step in and temporarily run the British retail supply arm of Russian gas giant Gazprom, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, as companies cut ties with Russian firms.

Officials are closely monitoring the situation at Gazprom Marketing & Trading Retail Ltd, whose ultimate parent company is Russian state-owned Gazprom, Bloomberg reported.

The unit, operating as Gazprom Energy, supplies just over a fifth of Britain’s commercial gas volume and serves thousands of customers, including the National Health Service.

The company is a prime candidate to be brought into the UK’s special administration scheme if it fails to ensure continuity of supply, according to the report, citing a person familiar with the matter.

A government spokesman said: “We are aware that Gazprom Energy has a strong presence in the non-domestic energy retail market.”

“Gazprom’s retail business continues to trade in the UK and customers should exercise their own commercial judgment in relation to the energy supply contracts they currently have in place.”

The government added that Britain was in no way dependent on Russian gas, which made up less than 4% of its supply.

Gazprom Energy did not respond to emails from Reuters seeking comment.

Meanwhile The Sunday Times reported that Gazprom Energy was trying to find a buyer to avoid collapse as many large customers sought to back out of multi-million pound contracts in response to Ukraine’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia.

Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar in Bengaluru and William Schomberg and Paul Sandle in London; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Jan Harvey

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