Page 8 - Euroil Week 02 2020

EurOil INVESTMENT EurOil
Wintershall sheds non-core German assets
GERMANY
GERMAN oil and gas firm Wintershall Dea has cut a deal to shed all its interests in a number of oil concessions in Germany, in order to focus more on its core projects in the country.
The company has agreed to transfer its 33.33% of the Aitingen, 100% of the Schwabmuenchen, 50% of the Lauben/Bernau and 100% of the Hebertshausen concessions in Bavaria to fellow German operator RDG. It will also dispose of an 66.67% share in the Landau concession in Rhine- land-Palatinate, a 50% stake in the Tannheim/ Engelsberg concession in Baden-Wuttemberg and a 100% interest in the Suderbruch conces- sion in Lower Saxony.
Wintershall nets around 1,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) from the assets, equivalent to about 2% of its total production in Germany.
“As part of our broader portfolio optimisa- tion initiatives, this transaction is an important step in the direction of refocusing our efforts in Germany around [our] main operated produc- tion hubs,” Wintershall’s head for Germany, Dirk Warzecha, said in a statement on January 9.
Warzecha was referring to the firm’s oilfields in Mittelplate in Schleswig-Holstein and Emlich- heim in Lower Saxony, along with its Verden gas
fields, also in Lower Saxony.
The deal is slated to close in the first half of
2020, after regulatory approvals are secured. At this point, all Wintershall staff in southern Ger- many will be transferred to RDG.
RDG, headquartered in Hanover, was spun off in 2019 from Austria’s RAG, and already operates concessions in Lower Saxony and Bavaria.
“As a growing company, we specialise in the further development and optimisation of pro- duction at existing oil and gas fields,” RDG CEO Felix Lerch commented. “Our goal is to align existing development sites towards sustainable, environmentally friendly production, including potential subsequent usage with renewable ener- gies and full ecological restoration.”
Neither company disclosed the deal’s price tag.
Wintershall, owned by German gas and chemical giant BASF and Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman’s LetterOne investment vehi- cle, works in Latin Africa, Northern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Russia. Besides Germany, its European operations also include fields in Norway, the UK, Denmark and the Netherlands. ™
POLICY
Poland’s ex-finance minister to head national gas firm
POLAND
Since coming to power in 2015, Poland’s rulling Law and Justice party has made numerous changes to the leadership of state- run companies.
POLISH gas firm PGNiG has appointed former finance minister Jerzy Kwiecinski as its new CEO, replacing Piotr Wozniak, whose three-year term expired on January 9.
The company said in a statement it had also selected Przemyslaw Waclawski as its new board vice-president for finance, Jaroslaw Wrobel as vice-president for trade and Arkadiusz Sekscin- ski as vice-president for development. They will replace Michal Pietrzyk, Maciej Wozniak and Lukasz Kroplewski respectively.
Like their predecessors, Kwiecinski and the other new appointees will serve three-year terms. Robert Perkowski will stay on as PGNiG’s vice-president for operations for another three years.
PGNiG has not provided a reason for the reshuffle. But since coming to power in 2015, Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has made numerous changes to the leadership of state-run companies.
PiS announced a cabinet reshuffle in Novem- ber after winning parliamentary elections the
previous month. Kwiecinski was dropped as finance minister, having only taken up the role weeks earlier. Previously he served as Poland’s investment and development minister. There was speculation that Kwiecinski might be selected to head one of Poland’s large state firms, given his close ties to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
PiS also dissolved Poland’s energy ministry following its re-election, a body formerly led by coal advocate Krzysztof Tchorzewski. The super- vision of energy and mining companies will be transferred to a new treasury ministry led by Deputy Prime Minister Jacek Sasin.
“It is about making use of all reserves, includ- ing those which are part of the state treasury, which is in our vital interest,” Morawiecki said at the time.
Putting the treasury ministry in charge of energy companies and other state-owned utili- ties and financial companies is seen as an attempt by PiS to consolidate control over the Polish economy. ™
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