Germany paid BASF compensation for Russia's confiscation of Wintershall assets

Wintershall DEA, part of the BASF concern, received compensation from the German government for the confiscation of its Russian assets. Handelsblatt, citing industry sources, reported that €229 million was transferred to BASF accounts in the third quarter of 2025, and an unknown amount in the fourth.

The company was able to receive compensation thanks to government guarantees for investments in Russian gas fields received in 2016. The exact amount of these guarantees is unknown; sources put the figure at €1.8 billion. Payments in the fall of 2025 were made for individual projects.

BASF declined to comment, but confirmed receipt of compensation: “The compensation that Wintershall Dea receives under federal guarantees is distributed among shareholders in the form of dividends from net profits.” More details about these proceeds are planned to be included in the 2025 financial statements, which will be presented at the end of February.

Wintershall has not been active since 2024, as BASF sold its oil and gas business to British energy company Harbor Energies. However, Russia-related transactions were excluded from the deal. BASF owns 72.7% of Wintershall DEA shares. The remaining shares are owned by the British investment company LetterOne, founded by Russian oligarchs Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven. After the outbreak of war in Ukraine, both were subject to EU and UK sanctions, as a result of which their shares were frozen, they lost shareholder rights and the right to receive dividends. However, LetterOne could likely qualify for some compensation from the German government.

In December 2023, Vladimir Putin signed decrees according to which the shares of Wintershall DEA and the Austrian OMV in joint ventures (JVs) with Gazprom will be forcibly sold to Russian owners. Wintershall owned shares in two joint ventures to develop the Achimov deposits of the Urengoy field. In addition, Wintershall owned 35% in Severneftegazprom, the operator of the Yuzhno-Russkoye field. Another 24.99% of the same enterprise was owned by OMV. Shares in the Urengoy field went to Gas Technologies LLC, whose beneficiary is unknown, and in the Yuzhno-Russkoye field, which was initially the main resource base of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, to SOGAZ. The company decided to leave Russia in January of that year.