Oil and gas group: Wintershall Dea does not want to end business with Gazprom

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Headquarters of Wintershall Holding in Kassel (archive photo): »Our opinion of the Russian business has not changed«

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Uwe Zucchi / dpa

Despite the war in Ukraine, the oil and gas producer Wintershall Dea does not want to exit its holdings in Russia.

"Our opinion of the Russian business has not changed," said CEO Mario Mehren on Tuesday when the half-year figures were presented.

Wintershall Dea will continue its joint ventures in Russia with the Russian gas group Gazprom.

The Executive Board is obliged to protect Wintershall Dea's assets in the country and the employees there, emphasized Mehren.

"Simply leaving Russia would mean making a big gift to the Russian government and I see no reason for it." According to Mehren, a withdrawal would mean that the Russian state would receive billions in value.

About half of the group's oil and gas production comes from Russia.

Mehren emphasized that payments to Russia had been stopped and that new projects in Russia and with Russian partners outside Russia had been answered with a clear no.

However, participation in existing projects in Russia will be maintained.

But no fresh money flows to Russia through them.

The chemical group BASF currently holds 72.7 percent of Wintershall Dea and the Letter One investor group of Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman 27.3 percent.

In the second quarter, Wintershall Dea earned significantly more than a year earlier thanks to the sharp rise in oil and gas prices.

The group also benefited from higher production volumes and lower investments.

The bottom line is that profits increased from 62 to 668 million euros.

In Russia, Wintershall Dea is involved in three production projects at the Yuzhno Russkoye natural gas field and the Achimov formation of the Urengoy field in Siberia.

The company is also a co-owner of Nord Stream AG, which owns the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, with a 15.5 percent stake.

No sale of Nord Stream 1 shares planned

The Gazprom group, which holds a 51 percent majority in the pipeline project, announced on Monday that it would halve the volume of gas supplied - just a few days after gas supplies through the Baltic Sea pipeline were resumed.

Mehren said he is not speculating on the reasons for the reduction in shipment volumes.

"I have no insight, even as a shareholder of Nord Stream AG, what the real reasons for this reduction are." Wintershall Dea does not plan to sell any shares in the pipeline project, even if Gazprom has confidence in Russia as a reliable supplier for Europe destroyed.

If Europe wants to reduce its dependency on imports, production within the EU is a must, said Mehren.

"We need more domestic production again." Wintershall Dea is therefore examining all options for increasing production from its German fields as quickly as possible.

The company is currently producing from 16 oil and around 40 gas fields in Germany.

The group had recently announced that it wanted to expand its controversial funding in the Wadden Sea.

Wintershall also wants to expand its business in other countries.

All options for additional gas volumes and an additional energy supply would be examined, it said.

These included the major projects Nova, Njord and Dvalin in Norway, which are scheduled to start production at the end of the year.

In addition, Wintershall Dea is examining possibilities in countries where the company is already active, such as Algeria.

In addition, the group wants to push ahead with planned investments in the areas of carbon management and hydrogen.

Sol/Reuters/dpa