Russ Oil-Gas

October 02, 2008 - Oil Voice - Following intensive negotiations, Gazprom and E.ON have been successful in reaching agreement: E.ON will acquire a stake of 25% minus one share in the Siberian gas field Yuzhno Russkoye. In return, Gazprom is receiving E.ON Ruhrgas’s 49% stake in the Russian company ZAO Gerosgaz, which holds just under 3% of the Gazprom shares. Via Gerosgaz, E.ON Ruhrgas is the owner of this share package which will be transferred to the ownership of Gazprom. After the transaction, E.ON Ruhrgas will still hold a 3.5% direct stake in Gazprom. During the German/Russian government consultations in St. Petersburg, Mr. Alexej Miller, CEO of OAO Gazprom, and Mr. Wulf Bernotat, CEO of E.ON, signed the participation agreement in the presence of the Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel. "We are pleased about the final conclusion of our negotiations and the very positive result. With our participation in Yuzhno Russkoye, we will strengthen our long-standing partnership with Gazprom, contribute to a deeper level of understanding between our two countries and secure natural gas supplies to Europe," said Mr. Bernotat. "Following the acquisition of the Russian power station company OGK4, this is again a big step towards strengthening E.ON’s position on the Russian energy market." "Gazprom and E.ON have again confirmed that they are long-term, strategic partners that are able to realise joint cooperation projects along the entire added value chain. We welcome E.ON to the development of the Yuzhno Russkoye gas field. E.ON will be our third partner in this project and thus make an important contribution to gas production in Russia," said Mr. Alexej Miller. Yuzhno Russkoye has reserves of over 600 billion m³, making it one of the world’s largest gas fields. The owner of the production licence and operator is Russian OAO Severneftegazprom (SNGP). After today’s agreement, Gazprom will hold a stake of just under 51% in SNGP and E.ON Ruhrgas and BASF-Wintershall each a stake of 25% minus one share. Production started last year and will reach around 25 billion m³ annually as early as next year. This gas quantity would be sufficient to supply a metropolis of approx. 10 million households. "Participation in Yuzhno Russkoye adds another successful chapter to our long-standing cooperation with Gazprom and is a milestone on our way towards realising our upstream goal. In future, we plan to supply at least 10 billion m³ of natural gas from our own field participations," said Mr. Bernhard Reutersberg, CEO of E.ON Ruhrgas, which will manage the Yuzhno Russkoye participation.