RWE selling Czech gas pipeline operator Net4Gas
PRAGUE. Sept 14 (Interfax) - One of Europe's largest power companies, RWE, having announced the sale of assets to the tune of EUR 11 billion, has decided to sell the Czech gas pipeline system operator Net4Gas, the Czech media reports, citing chairman of the Net4Gas board of directors Martin Herrmann.
The company is also accepting preliminary bids from potential buyers, Herrmann said.
The RWE press service has declined to comment on the development for Interfax.
One of the companies the Czech media says might be interested in the asset is Russian gas giant Gazprom . However, the RWE press service did say that a deal like that would be difficult to pull off because of legal restrictions in the European Union that prohibit gas-suppliers from controlling pipelines.
Gazprom has been supplying gas to end-consumers in the Czech Republic since 2006, and recently acquired 51% of the stock in RSP Energy through the company Vemex. RSP Energy supplies electricity and natural gas to households and small consumers in the republic.
Gazprom Export LLC delivered some 8.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas to the Czech Republic last year.
Gazprom's main partner in the republic is RWE Transgas. The currently valid contracts for Russian natural gas and the transportation of gas through the country between them were secured in 1998 and 1999, respectively, and were extended until 2035 (inclusive) in 2006.
In mid-July, Gazprom and RWE inked a memorandum of mutual understanding concerning strategic partnership in the production of electric power in Europe. For the realization of the agreements, Gazprom and RWE will begin consultations on the possible creation of a joint venture that would encompass existing or new power stations operating on natural gas and coal in Germany, Britain, and the Benelux countries.