German govt denies pressuring BASF to cancel Gazprom asset swap - WSJ
MOSCOW. Dec 22 (Interfax) - BASF's decision to call off an asset-swap deal with Russia's Gazprom was not the result of political pressure from the German government, the Wall Street Journal said.
"This is a corporate process. From the German side, there was no political influence over the deal," the WSJ quoted Julia Modes, a spokesperson for the ministry, as saying. "For us, it is only important that the gas supply or the security of supply is not threatened, and we don't see that," the paper quoted Modes as saying.
BASF said on Thursday that it and Gazprom had agreed they would not complete the asset swap, which was planned for the end of the year.
"We regret that the asset swap will not be concluded. We will continue our cooperation of over 20 years with Gazprom in our existing joint ventures," said Kurt Bock, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE.
"In light of this, the outlook for the current year of achieving an EBIT before special items that is slightly higher than the previous year still appears to be reachable," Bock said. EBIT will likely slightly increase; previously a considerable rise in EBIT was expected due to the special income from the divestitures of the gas trading and storage business, he said.
"Our strategy in the oil and gas business remains unchanged: We will continue focusing on profitable growth at the source in our targeted oil and gas-rich regions in Europe, North Africa, Russia, South America, and the Middle East," Bock said.
The natural gas trading business will continue to operate as a 50-50 joint venture between Gazprom and BASF Group company Wintershall. Wintershall Noordzee B.V. will remain a 100% BASF Group company. At the end of 2012, the assets and liabilities of the natural gas trading business were classified as a disposal group in the financial statements.
In the asset swap, it was originally planned that two additional blocks of the Achimov formation of the Urengoi natural gas and condensate field in western Siberia would be jointly developed by Gazprom and Wintershall, a 100% subsidiary of BASF. In return, Wintershall would have transferred the jointly operated natural gas trading and storage business to Gazprom. Gazprom would have also received 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).
The deal had to be completed by the end of this year, otherwise it would be canceled, reports have said.
Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said a month ago that the deal with BASF was still on the agenda.