Russ Oil-Gas

05.17.2006, 06:17 AM FRANKFURT (AFX) - Moncrief Oil International Inc is seeking damages from BASF AG's Wintershall unit in a long-running ownership dispute over Russia's Yushno Russkoye gas field, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported. The newspaper said Moncrief provided few details relating to its legal action, including the extent of damages it seeks from BASF. However, Moncrief CEO Richard Moncrief said the case concerns assets worth 8 bln usd. OAO Gazprom signed an agreement with BASF's Wintershall unit last month giving the German company a 35 pct stake in the field, which holds 700 bln cubic metres of proven natural gas reserves. However, Moncrief claims it entered into an agreement with Gazprom's Sapsibgazprom unit in 1997 to exploit the Yushno Russkoye field. The US energy company last July sued Gazprom in a US court over the ownership of the field. However, the court said the case had no merit and refused to hear it, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote. A BASF spokesman declined to provide detailed comment on the matter when contacted by the newspaper, saying only that the case was 'an old story.'