BASF/Wintershall and Gazprom have been cooperating for 25 years. The two companies started cooperating in autumn 1990 with a long-term agreement to market Russian natural gas in Germany. Now they have decided to extend their cooperation with the joint natural gas production in Siberia. Together with other partners, the companies are also planning the extension of the Nord Stream Baltic Sea pipeline.
The German-Russian cooperation between BASF and Gazprom was completely new in the gas industry in 1990. BASF and Gazprom introduced competition to the gas market in Germany and Europe in the 1990s by building pipelines and developing a natural gas trading business. BASF and Gazprom have traded more than 700 bcm of natural gas in Europe in the last 25 years.
In their joint ventures in Siberia, the two companies have already been producing natural gas for about ten years. Since the closing of the asset swap between BASF and Gazprom at the end of September 2015, the BASF subsidiary Wintershall also holds a stake of 25.01% in Blocks IV and V of the Achimov Formation in the Urengoy natural gas and condensate field in West Siberia, which will be developed jointly by Gazprom and Wintershall in the future.
