EON dragged by nuclear sector

German energy company E.ON said sales declined significantly because of the shutdown of nuclear power stations in the domestic energy sector. Overall sales for E.ON for the first nine months of the year were at $119 billion, 21 percent higher than the same period in 2011. For its nuclear and fossil generation, however, the company said "sales declined significantly." "The main reasons were the shutdown of nuclear power stations in Germany pursuant to the amendment of the Nuclear Energy Act along with lower capacity utilization at E.ON's European generation fleet," the company said in a statement. Nuclear power dropped from 22.4 percent of the German energy mix in 2010 to 17.7 percent in 2011. German Chancellor Angela Merkel last year ordered the country's nuclear power plants closed in response to the meltdown of Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in early 2011. EON and Russian natural gas company Gazprom are part of the consortium overseeing the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline to Germany. EON reported its nine-month earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization at $11.1 billion, which it attributed to "significant improvements" in its wholesale gas business.