History of Wintershall Dea, which broke ties with Russia, draws to a close with sale of core assets

MOSCOW. Sept 3 (Interfax) - British independent oil and gas company Harbour Energy plc has completed the purchase of the main production assets of Wintershall Dea, once the biggest oil and gas company in Germany.

As of September 3, 2024, Wintershall Dea's E&P business, excluding joint ventures with Russia's Gazprom , has been transferred to Harbour Energy plc, Wintershall Dea said in a press release.

"Wintershall Dea is an energy company with a long history, the last chapter of which is now being written," the company said in a note to the press release.

The decision to sell the business was made by Wintershall Dea shareholders following a fundamental decision to sever ties with Russia, which brought the German company the most income and the highest margins.

Around 800 employees will be affected by the closure of Wintershall Dea's headquarters in Kassel and Hamburg. Chief Executive Officer Mario Mehren, Chief Operating Officer Dawn Summers and Chief Financial Officer Paul Smith have resigned from their mandates at Wintershall Dea AG.

Wintershall Dea's remaining assets include stakes in the joint ventures with Gazprom, which are Severneftegazprom, Achimgaz and others, and the ownership interests in Wintershall AG in Libya, in Wintershall Noordzee BV in the Netherlands and in Nord Stream AG.

Wintershall Dea's remaining personnel will deal with the handling of claims related to the Russian assets, the sale of the remaining assets, the organizational restructuring and, ultimately, the closure of the headquarters in Kassel and Hamburg.

Wintershall Dea also announced the sale of a stake in the gas transportation joint ventures WIGA Transport Beteiligungs-GmbH & Co. KG and WIGA Verwaltungs-GmbH to SEFE Securing Energy for Europe GmbH (Gazprom Germania before it was confiscated by the German government). The deal makes SEFE the sole shareholder of the company. WIGA is the sole shareholder of the German gas transmission system operators Gascade Gastransport GmbH (GASCADE) and NEL Gastransport GmbH. The Gascade gas transportation system, which is more than 4,000 km long, was created jointly by Gazprom and Wintershall.