Russ Oil-Gas

Feb. 22, 2007 - Kommersant - A venture of German BASF’s subsidiary Wintershall and Russia’s Gazprom, WINGAS has opened a Moscow office in premises of Gazprom Export, WINGAS announced. The company has its headquarters in Kassel, Germany. The Moscow office will strengthen cooperation with Russia’s partners, including related to Tomsk agreements on widening cooperation, said Rainer Seele, chairman of WINGAS board of directors. “Accommodating WINGAS in our head office will encourage rapid communication with our Western Europe’s clients, enabling us to make better and more prompt contribution to ensuring the safety of natural gas supplies to Europe,” said Gazprom Export CEO Alexander Medvedev. BASF-Wintershall AG holds 65 percent in WINGAS, Gazprom owns 35 percent. But under the deal of 2006, the share of Russia’s gas monopoly will step up to 50 percent less a stock in the venture. One of the biggest gas enterprises in Europe, WINGAS has become very aggressive on the markets of Germany in particular and Europe in general. In addition to sales expansion, WINGAS and Gazprom work in tandem to increase the capacity of gas storage facilities in Austria, Britain and Germany and diversify infrastructure for gas imports to Europe. www