03 April 2016, 22:18 / Business

Gazprom will receive shares in the North Sea areas owned by OMV

The companies agreed to exchange assets. Contrary to expectations, the agreement did not include the Shwechat oil refinery Galina Starinskaya Gazprom received the right to develop the North Sea shelf / D. Abramov / Vedomosti

Gazprom and OMV announced on Friday that they had agreed to exchange assets. The Russian company will receive fields in the Norwegian part of the North Sea, and the Austrian company will receive a share in areas in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. “We are talking about the North Sea. If you look at OMV's assets in this region, you will see what is there, so we are talking about the Norwegian shelf - this is the North Sea. We are talking about operating companies; we would prefer that Gazprom get a share and these companies continue to operate. All of them are in the oil and gas sector,” said OMV Chairman of the Board Rainer Seele (quotes from Interfax).

“Gazprom is offering 24.9% of the Achimov sections of the Urengoyskoye field. The reserves of these areas amount to 273 billion cubic meters. m with reaching the production level of 14 billion cubic meters. m of gas,” said Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Board of the Russian company. The reserves of the Achimov deposits in the territory of operation of Gazprom Dobycha Urengoy LLC amount to more than 1 trillion cubic meters. m of gas and more than 400 million tons of condensate (category C1), according to Gazprom’s website. “The deal is planned to be closed this year after the assets are assessed. There is no reason to cancel the deal,” Miller added.

OMV has been operating in Norway since 2006. It owns a share in one of the largest and already developed fields - Gullfaks - and a share in the Gudrun field, launched in 2014. The company also owns 23 offshore licenses, one of which is in the Norwegian part of the North Sea, all others are in the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea. OMV production in Norway in 2015 amounted to 17.1 million barrels. n. e.

Gazprom will supply oil

During 2016, Gazprom will sell Rebco oil to OMV on a free-on-board basis. Additionally, by agreement of the parties, it is possible to supply OMV with Silco brand oil, the companies reported on Friday.

In September 2015, Gazprom and OMV signed an agreement on the terms of a possible exchange of assets. Then it became known that OMV would receive a 24.98% participation in the project to develop blocks 4A and 5A of the Achimov deposits of the Urengoy field. The parties did not disclose what assets Gazprom might receive. The Kurier newspaper wrote that Gazprom could claim a stake in the Schwechat oil refinery in Austria (processing capacity in 2014 – 9.6 million tons) and shares in the gas importer EconGas. Seele said that this was “pure speculation.” TASS wrote about the possible transfer of the refinery to Gazprom, citing a source. According to his information, the exchange of assets was hampered by disagreements related to the assessment of processing when delivering Russian oil to the plant.

OMV is a long-time partner of Gazprom. The Austrian company is one of the participants in Gazprom’s new project, Nord Stream, which involves the construction of a gas pipeline with a capacity of 55 billion cubic meters. m of gas per year from Russia to Germany along the bottom of the Baltic Sea (the agreement was signed in September 2015).

In addition to the Austrian company, BASF's subsidiary Wintershall received 25.01% in the projects to develop sections 4A and 5A in October last year. Under the terms of the deal, Gazprom increased to 100% its share in joint companies for gas trading and storage in Europe - Wingas, Wieh and Wiee, and also received 50% of the Winz company, which conducts exploration and production of hydrocarbons in the North Sea.

Production in the North Sea will not be a key area for Gazprom; the cost of production there is higher than in Western Siberia, says Aton senior analyst Alexander Kornilov. The North Sea has mostly depleted fields with falling production, adds Alexey Grivach, deputy director of the National Energy Security Fund. This deal is important not so much from the point of view of the quality of assets that Gazprom will receive, but from the point of view of strengthening partnerships against the background of tensions between Russia and the EU and Russia and the USA, he continues. Against the backdrop of sanctions against Russia, such expansion is a kind of image move, Kornilov agrees.