BERLIN: German oil and gas giant Wintershall said yesterday it was expanding its production and reserves in the North Sea after buying shares from Norway’s Statoil for $1.25bn (¤967,000).
The deal covers oil and gas fields, a pipeline project and exploration licences and is effective retroactively to January 1, Wintershall’s parent company BASF said.
It represents about 170 million barrels of oil equivalent, it said in a statement. The BASF subsidiary is very involved in Russia via its close cooperation with Russian state gas giant Gazprom and a co-enterprise with Russia’s Lukoil oil company.
“We believe in the potential of the Norwegian continental shelf and clearly focus on our goal, we want to become one of the leading oil and gas companies in Norway,” said Rainer Seele, chairman of Wintershall.
AFP
