Gazprom and Wintershall Sign Deal in North Sea and Siberia
The Wintershall Holdings unit of Germany's BASF is strenthening its cooperation with the Russian natural gas producer Gazprom.
The deal will see Gazprom and Wintershall exchanging assets, resulting in the Russian giant acquiring gas production in the North Sea.
A statement released jointly by both parties said that Gazprom would receive half of Wintershall's assets in the North Sea, while Wintershall will take an initial 25 percent interest in the Urengoy field in Siberia, and one share in the development of blocks IV and V. Wintershall retains the option to increase this stake to 50 percent in the future. The deal will also see Gazprom and Wintershall work together on two blocks of the Achimov formation of the Urengoy field in western Siberia.
Speaking on behalf of Gazprom, Alexei Miller, Chairman of the Management Committee of OAO Gazprom said that the move will enable both companies to develop on their interests to their mutual benefit.
"The constructive partnership between Gazprom and BASF/Wintershall enables us to tackle technically complex and ambitious projects," he said. "Together with Wintershall, we want to expand gas production from the Achimov layers of the Urengoy deposit and cooperate in E&P projects in the southern North Sea, where Wintershall has been operating successfully for decades, for our mutual benefit."
Dr. Kurt Bock, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF, said that the joint production would be an important aspect of the partnership.
"The joint production between our oil and gas subsidiary Wintershall and Gazprom from the Achimov deposit is an impressive example of our long-standing success model: cooperation in the spirit of partnership and complementing each other’s strengths along the entire value adding chain. Further expanding our shared production is an important step in our partnership with Gazprom, which stretches back over 20 years."
The deal will act in addition to the two companies' existing partnership, in the jointly owned natural gas trading company WINGAS. Wintershall has also entered into an agreement to acquire a 15 percent stake in the Gazprom led South Stream pipeline.