A working meeting between Alexey Miller, Gazprom’s Management Committee Chairman and Dr. Jurgen Hambrecht, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF AG was conducted today at Gazprom’s Headquarters.

The meeting addressed outcomes and prospects of cooperation between the 2 companies, including gas deliveries to Germany and gas marketing to European consumers. The parties also discussed the issue of the European gas transmission infrastructure development and Gazprom and BASF AG’s involvement in this process. At the same time, Alexey Miller and Jurgen Hambrecht deliberated on issues of cooperation in the gas chemistry.

Ultimately, the parties achieved an accord to go on promoting cooperation in all businesses of mutual interest.

Reference:

BASF AG is a transnational chemical corporation comprising 169 affiliates. BASF AG’s major business lines are chemicals, plastics and optical fibres, dyes, finishing materials, foodstuffs, oil and gas.

Wintershall AG, a BASF AG 100% subsidiary, is operating in the power generation secdtor. Gazprom and Wintershall AG have been cooperating for so far over 13 years through their subsidiaries WINGAS (35% and 65%, respectively) and WIEH (50% and 50%, respectively).

WINGAS GmbH’s businesses are as follows:

• Russian gas marketing and distribution in Germany
• Gas procurement in West Europe
• Russian gas trading on the British spot market
• Construction and operation of new gas pipelines and gas distribution stations; building of underground gas storage facilities
• Gas transmission through Germany

In July 2003, Gazprom and Wintershall AG founded the 50%:50% Achimgaz joint venture with the view of developing on a contract basis the 1st pilot play of the Achimov deposits of the Urengoiskoye oil and gas condensate field.

Over the entire period of the play development, the companies plan to extract some 200 bcm of gas and 40 million tons of gas condensate, with 8.3 bcm of gas and 2.8 million tons of gas condensate to be produced on an annual basis.

The Achimov formations lay as deep as 3,150-3,800 meters and have a great deal more complex geological composition, as compared to the Cenomanian and Valanginian deposits currently undergoing development. Wintershall AG possesses state-of-the-art technologies, equipment as well as experience of drilling super-deep subhorizontal wells under harsh geological conditions, which is very important for the phase-by-phase development of the Achimov deposits of the Urengoiskoye field, to be divided into 6 pilot plays.

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