Russ Oil-Gas

09 October 2007 - Upstream OnLine - US player Moncrief Oil International has withdrawn its claim against Germany's BASF over ownership of a stake in Russia's Yuzhno-Russkoye gas field, a German court said today. A spokesman at the higher court in Zweibruecken said Moncrief had retracted its appeal, which it filed in August, after a German court described its legal suit against BASF as unfounded. The spokesman was confirming a report in German newspaper Die Rheinpfalz. Moncrief's law firm in Germany was not immediately available for comment, Reuters said. Yuzhno-Russkoye is controlled by Gazprom. German utility E.ON is also working to reach an agreement with Gazprom for a stake in the gas field.