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See also ... Major chemical maker to increase oil and gas production
BASF and Gazprom agree on asset swap
- BASF to increase oil and gas production and exit gas trading and storage business
- BASF Group company Wintershall to receive 25% plus one share in the blocks IV
-
und V in the Achimov formation of the Urengoi
field in western Siberia
- Gazprom to take over 100% of the currently jointly run natural gas trading and
-
storage business as well as 50%
of Wintershall Noordzee B.V.
14.11.2012 + + + Dr. Kurt Bock, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE, and Alexej Miller, Chairman of
the Management Committee of OAO Gazprom, today (November 14, 2012) signed a legally binding basic agreement to swap assets of
equivalent value. Through the swap, BASF aims to further expand its production of oil and gas and to exit the gas trading and
storage business. Subject to the approval by the relevant authorities, the transaction is to be completed by the end of 2013
and financially retroactive to April 1, 2013.
Through the agreement, two additional blocks of the Achimov formation of the Urengoi natural gas and condensate field in
western Siberia will be jointly developed. Wintershall, a 100% subsidiary of BASF, will receive 25% plus one share of the
blocks IV and V in the Achimov formation together with the option to increase the share in the two gas and condensate
deposits to 50%. According to the development plan confirmed by the Russian mining authority, blocks IV and V have total
hydrocarbon resources of 274 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 74 million metric tons of condensate. This is equivalent
to a total of 2.4 billion barrel of oil equivalent. A total annual plateau production of at least 8 billion cubic meters of
natural gas is expected from the two blocks. Start of production is planned for 2016.
In return, Wintershall will completely transfer the currently jointly operated natural gas trading and storage business to
its long-term partner Gazprom. This includes the 50% shares in the gas trading companies WINGAS, WIEH (Wintershall
Erdgashandelshaus Berlin) and WIEE (Wintershall Erdgashandelshaus Zug) including shares in the natural gas storage facilities
in Rehden and Jemgum, Germany, as well as Haidach, Austria, and the gas storage operator astora. Gazprom will also receive a
50% share in the activities of Wintershall Noordzee B.V., which is active in the exploration and production of oil and gas in
the southern North Sea (Netherlands, UK and Denmark). Together the activities to be divested contributed €8.6 billion to sales and €350 million to income from operations (EBIT) of the BASF Group in 2011. The partnership in the area of the
construction, operation and marketing of natural gas pipelines will continue unchanged.
“The asset swap is consistent with our strategy to expand the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas –
through organic growth and targeted acquisitions,” said Dr. Kurt Bock. “With this step, we are further developing our more
than 20 year partnership: Gazprom will become more active in the natural gas trading and storage business and we will jointly
expand the production at the source.”
“Through the agreement, Gazprom and BASF are confirming their strategic partnership on the international energy market. By
increasing our share in the gas trading and storage business, we are continuing our successful activities to secure the
supply of gas for Europe. The agreement on exploration and production extends the geographic dimension of our cooperation,
which has already successfully started with production projects in Russia,” said Alexej Miller.
Wintershall has been the preferred partner of Gazprom for many years in the production of natural gas in Russia. With the
projects Yuzhno Russkoye and Achimgaz, Wintershall – Germany’s largest internationally active crude oil and natural gas
producer – and Gazprom already jointly produce gas. The competitive advantages that Wintershall has through its technological
competence, operational excellence and long-term cooperations with national oil companies are becoming even more important in
the area of exploration and production of oil and gas. The traditional natural gas trading business, however, offers
Wintershall little possibility for differentiation.
Today, the expansion of activities at the source has already been successful. Since 2000, Wintershall’s production of crude
oil and natural gas has increased from 80 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) to an expected around 140 million boe in
2012. This is an average increase of 5% per year. By 2015, the company plans to increase production to at least 160 million
boe. Especially the production of oil and gas in Russia and the northern North Sea is to be
expanded.
+ + +
Based in Kassel, Germany, Wintershall Holding GmbH is a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF and has been active in the
exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas for over 80 years. Wintershall focuses on selected core regions,
where the company has built up a high level of regional and technological expertise. These are Europe, North Africa, South
America, as well as Russia and the Caspian Sea region. In addition, these operations are complemented by the company’s
growing exploration activities in the Middle East. Today, the company employs more than 2,000 staff worldwide from 40 nations
and is Germany’s largest internationally active crude oil and natural gas producer.
Activities in Russia
The natural gas field Yuzhno Russkoye was already commissioned in 2007. Wintershall has a 35 percent share in the commercial
success of the field via OAO Severneftegazprom. The field already reached plateau production of 25 billion cubic meters of
natural gas per year in the middle of 2009. All 143 production wells are in operation. The field Yuzhno Russkoye in western
Siberia, which was discovered in 1969, has recoverable reserves of more than 600 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
ZAO Achimgaz , a joint venture of Gazprom subsidiary OOO Gazprom dobytscha Urengoi (50%) and the wholly owned BASF subsidiary
Wintershall (50%), produces natural gas and condensate from block 1A of the Achimov formation of the Urengoy field in the
Siberian city of Novy Urengoy about 3,500 kilometers north-east of Moscow. Achimgaz plans to produce up to 200 billion cubic
meters of natural gas and 40 million metric tons of condensate from the block over a period of more than 40 years. Achimgaz
is currently producing around one billion cubic meters of natural gas a year from six pilot wells in the Achimov formation,
which is technically extremely challenging, of the Urengoy field (Block IA). In November 2011, the next phase of the project
expansion was launched, initially with 20 new planned wells. In the coming years, over 100 wells are set to raise production
to an annual plateau level of about eight billion cubic meters.
At the end of October 2011 Gazprom and BASF/Wintershall agreed on the terms and conditions for the development of two
additional blocks of the Achimov formation in a framework agreement – with a plateau production potential of at least eight
billion cubic meters of gas per year.
Activities of Wintershall Noordzee B.V.
The North Sea is one of the traditional core regions of Wintershall. The wholly owned BASF subsidiary has been active there
since 1965. Wintershall is one of the largest producers of natural gas in the Netherlands and operates a total of 23 offshore
installations there. To ensure the efficiency of its operations, Wintershall controls 18 of these Dutch platforms and one in
Germany as well as the Wingate platform in the UK, operated by Wintershall, from Den Helder with a cutting-edge radio
surveillance and control system.
WINGAS, WIEE und WIEH
Gazprom and the wholly-owned BASF subsidiary Wintershall have already been active in natural gas trading in Germany and other
European countries since 1990 via the German-Russian joint ventures WIEH (Wintershall Erdgashandelshaus Berlin), WIEE
(Wintershall Erdgashandelshaus Zug) and WINGAS . WINGAS is one of the largest natural gas traders on the German market, and
the company has also positioned itself successfully in Europe. WINGAS has been supplying customers in Belgium, the
Netherlands, Denmark, France, the UK, Austria and the Czech Republic for many years – and this sector is growing. Its
customers are primarily resellers (municipal utility companies, regional companies and gas wholesale companies) as well as
large industrial consumers and power stations.
WIEH supplies customers in Germany and WIEE supplies customers in Romania and Bulgaria with natural gas and helps develop the
infrastructure in the south-east European markets. To date WIEE has delivered more than 48 billion cubic meters of natural
gas to Romania and over 8 billion cubic meters to Bulgaria.
The WINGAS subsidiary astora GmbH & Co. KG is one of the largest marketers of natural gas storage capacities in Europe. In
Rehden, south of Bremen, Germany, astora operates the largest natural gas storage facility in western Europe. More than four
billion cubic meters of natural gas can be stored here. This volume is enough to supply two million single-family homes with
natural gas for a year. The storage portfolio also includes a third of the capacities of the second-largest natural gas
storage facility in central Europe - in Haidach in Austria. The cavern storage facility in Jemgum in Lower Saxony, currently
under construction, rounds off the portfolio.
+ + +
BASF is the world’s leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics,
performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. We combine economic success, social responsibility and
environmental protection. Through science and innovation we enable our customers in almost all industries to meet the current
and future needs of society. Our products and system solutions contribute to conserving resources, ensuring healthy food and
nutrition and helping to improve the quality of life. We have summed up this contribution in our corporate purpose: We create
chemistry for a sustainable future. BASF posted sales of about €73.5 billion in 2011 and had more than 111,000 employees as
of the end of the year. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN).
Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com.
+ + +
OAO Gazprom is the world's leading natural gas company specializing in the exploration, production, transport, storage,
processing and marketing of natural gas and other hydrocarbons as well as energy generation. Gazprom's gas reserves are
estimated at 29 billion cubic meters, i.e. around 70% of Russia's and 18% of the world's gas reserves. Gazprom is responsible
for around 80% of Russian and 15% of global natural gas production. Gazprom has a 26% share of gas supplies on the European
market and exports to 31 countries. Further information is available on the Internet at
www.gazprom.com Source:
BASF SE - www.basf.com
Wintershall - www.wintershall.com
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