MOSCOW, June 14 (RIA Novosti) - Russian energy giant Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] intends to raise its stake in Wingas, a joint venture with Germany's Wintershall to 50%, the head of Gazprom's export arm said Thursday.
"The deal is at the stage of technical completion," said Alexander Medvedev, the head of Gazprom Export.
Wingas GmbH was formed in 1993 as a strategic alliance between Gazprom and Wintershall, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Germany's largest industrial gas consumer, BASF AG. Gazprom currently holds 36% of shares in Wingas and will raise its stake to 50% minus one share.
Medvedev also said that the Yuzhno-Russkoye gas deposit in West Siberia was expected to be launched in fall. Gazprom will develop this gas field in partnership with Wintershall, whose stake in the project will be 50% minus one share.
The Yuzhno-Russkoye deposit holds more than 1 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and will be a core source of supplies for the $10.5-billion Nord Stream Gas Pipeline, an ambitious Gazprom-managed project to pump natural gas to Germany across the Baltic Sea.
Wingas intends to invest around 3 billion euros (about $3.9 billion) in the development of European gas infrastructure by 2015, the Russian-German joint venture said in a statement.
The funds will largely be used to expand Germany's overland section of the gas transportation system, especially to build gas pipelines to connect them to the Nord Stream project and to build new gas storage facilities in Europe, the statement said.
