Background

Wintershall Holding GmbH is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BASF. The company has been focused on oil and gas exploration and production for over 80 years.

WINGAS is mainly engaged in natural gas wholesale trade and storage. The company supplies hydrocarbons to customers in Germany, where it occupies over 20 per cent of the market, as well as to Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, the UK and other countries. WINGAS customers are urban and regional gas utilities, industrial companies and power plants.

WIEH (Wintershall Erdgas Handelshaus GmbH & Co. KG) purchases and sells natural gas in Germany.

WIEE (Wintershall Erdgas Handelshaus Zug AG) is mainly focused on natural gas sales in Southeastern Europe.

The activities of WINZ (Wintershall Noordzee B.V.) include geological exploration and hydrocarbon production offshore the North Sea.

Wintershall also partners up with Gazprom in developing the Yuzhno-Russkoye field as well as in implementing the Nord Stream project.

The Achimov deposits lie at big depths (nearly 4,000 meters) and feature abnormally high formation pressures (over 600 Ata) and heavy paraffins presence, which considerably complicates their development and exploitation. Geological exploration has proven the Achimov deposits productivity across a vast area of the Nadym-Pur-Taz region. The bulk of recoverable hydrocarbon reserves of the Achimov deposits are accumulated in the Urengoy oil, gas and condensate field. The aggregate production volume in blocks 4A and 5A of the Achimov deposits is estimated at some 274 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 74 million tons of gas condensate.

In 2008 Achimgaz (joint venture of Gazprom and Wintershall established on a par) brought into test operation the first pilot block of the Achimov deposits at the Urengoy field.