MOSCOW, October 25 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] has increased its share in Wingaz GmbH from 36% to 50% minus one share under an asset swap deal with BASF, the Russian energy giant said in a news release Thursday.
Wingaz is the companies' joint venture. Under the asset swap deal Gazprom and Germany's BASF signed in April, the world's largest chemicals producer will be granted access to a strategic natural gas deposit in Russia, while the Russian gas producer will receive gas transportation and distribution assets in Germany.
Gazprom also said BASF received 25% minus one share and 10% of non-voting shares in Gazprom's subsidiary Severneftegazprom operating the Yuzhno-Russkoye oil and gas field in West Siberia. The field will be the main source of Russian gas exports to Western Europe via the Nord Stream pipeline that will lie along the Baltic seabed.
Under the asset swap deal, Gazprom will also gain a stake in Wintershall, a BASF subsidiary that owns hydrocarbon exploration and production assets in Libya.
