Gazprom is expanding partnerships with European companies

Russian major gas producer Gazprom plans to swap some energy assets in Russia with Germany’s biggest oil and gas producer Wintershall gaining access to North Sea deposits in return.

Wintershall will get about 25% of some Russian gas projects in the Yamal peninsula with an option for 50%, while Gazprom will require an equal share in Wintershall’s offshore project in the North Sea.“Gazprom will get access to assets that we have in the North Sea, especially in the Dutch and British North Sea,” commented Mario Mehren, the head of Wintershall Russia. “And I think Gazprom is very interested in broadening its production base outside Russia. The North Sea is the region where today Gazprom has very small activity,” he added. Gazprom and Wintershall have been engaged in several joint projects for decades. They have built the Nordstream gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea and now are jointly constructing Southstream route. The two companies had another joint venture Wingastransport which used to be one of the largest European gas suppliers. Recently the firm has been made independent and renamed Gascade in order to meet the requirements of the EU Third energy charter, which bans producers from owning the means of supply.