FRANKFURT - VNG, one of Germany's biggest importers of Russian natural gas, on Friday asked the government for aid to stay afloat, the latest European energy firm to request state support in response to plummeting Russian supplies.

"Until the start of the Russian war of aggression, VNG was a healthy corporate group contributing to the security of supply of gas in Germany," VNG, which is 74.21%-owned by German utility EnBW, said.

"The impacts of the Russian war on the energy markets placed VNG in an increasingly critical financial situation through no fault of its own," VNG said.

Germany's Economy Ministry will review the application, a spokesperson said.

Like Uniper, which in July agreed to a government bailout now totalling 19 billion euros ($19.18 billion), VNG has been hit by a massive decline in Russian gas supplies, forcing it to buy replacement volumes at sky-high prices on the spot market.

Shares in EnBW, which itself is effectively state-owned except for a small free-float, were down 5.6%.

VNG has two long-term Russian gas contracts with a total volume of 100 terawatt hours (TWh): one, accounting for 35 TWh, is directly with Gazprom and will expire at the end of the year.

That contract will lead to losses of about 1 billion euros in 2022, even if a gas levy, which will enable gas companies to pass on soaring costs to customers from Oct. 1, is factored in, VNG said, adding this loss alone would still be bearable.

The larger problem is due to a 65 TWh contract with Sefe, formerly known as Gazprom Germania, that was ditched by Gazprom in April and put under German trusteeship subsequently.

"This contract has not been consistently fulfilled since mid-May," VNG said. "With support from the German government, ways have been sought in recent weeks to reach a final settlement. However, this does not appear achievable in the near future in a form that is economically viable for VNG."

EnBW said last month the total potential damage from these two contracts "lies in the low single-digit billion euro range".

"Ongoing talks between VNG AG with its shareholders and the Federal Government on options for stabilisation of the company continue in parallel," EnBW said.

($1 = 0.9907 euros)

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz, additional reporting by Christian Kraemer in Berlin; Editing by Miranda Murray and Edmund Blair)