BASF, Gazprom to Complete Delayed Swap of Natural Gas Assets
BASF SE and Gazprom agreed to complete an asset swap initially planned for 2014 as the German company’s Wintershall unit exits the gas trading business in return for stakes in Siberian gas fields.
The transaction, approved by the European Commission almost two years ago, will be concluded by the end of this year and be retroactive to April 1, 2013, Ludwigshafen, Germany-based BASF said in a statement Friday. BASF is giving up assets with more than 12 billion euros ($13.4 billion) of sales.
Wintershall, BASF’s oil and gas subsidiary, will receive the economic equivalent of 25 percent plus one share of the IV and V blocks in the Achimov formation of the Urengoy natural gas field in western Siberia with production planned to start in 2018. It will transfer its share in the natural gas trading and storage business it jointly operates with Gazprom.