Gazprom, BASF still planning asset swap
MOSCOW. Nov 19 (Interfax) - Gazprom and Germany's BASF are still discussing a deal to swap assets, despite European Union sanctions and the Russian gas giant's plans to reassess the strategy for its presence on target markets.
"The European market is currently not a consumer market. We need to critically ask the question: do we need to go to the end consumer on a market that is not a consumer market? Gazprom is critically analysing and considering the strategies that it has been following recently," Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said a month ago at the St. Petersburg International Gas Forum.
Miller met with BASF head Kurt Bock in Ludwigshaven on Tuesday. They "discussed the progress of the deal to exchange assets between Gazprom and Wintershall Holding GmbH. It was noted that strengthening the companies' positions along the whole production chain would make it possible to increase the reliability of gas supplies to end consumers," Gazprom said.
The deadline for the asset swap deal is firmly the end of December 2014, otherwise the deal will be annulled. BASF had optimistically said that the deal would be closed in the middle of the year, but Gazprom had always talked about closing the deal in 2014.
It was reported earlier that as a result of the deal to swap assets, Gazprom will acquire full ownership of joint gas trade and storage companies in Europe - Wingas, WIEH and WIEE, and get a 50% stake in Wintershall Noordzee, a company that explores for and produces hydrocarbons in the North Sea.
Wintershall, in turn, will get a 25.01% economic stake in the project to develop sections 4A and 5A of the Achimov deposits of the Urengoy oil and gas condensate field.
"The parties gave high marks to the companies' partnership on the development of the Urengoy and Yuzhno-Russkoye fields, as well as on joint development and operation of facilities for underground gas storage in Europe. In addition, the participants in the meeting exchanged views on cooperation within the context of joint infrastructure projects," Gazprom said.