Austrian gas major OMV has agreed to pay $1.9bn for a 25% stake in the Yuzhno Russkoye gas field in western Siberia controlled and operated by Russian gas giant Gazprom, the Financial Times reported on March 6. The stake was acquired from Uniper, a power subsidiary of German energy utility E.On.
The CEO of the company Rainer Steel told media that OMV needs a “complete reshuffle” of its assets to lower expenses and boost competitiveness, with Russia being one of the target markets that could secure stable cash flow at low cost and maintain the flow of the natural gas to Europe.
The acquisition of a minority stake in the Gazprom-controlled field will boost OMV's output in Russia by a third, to the 0.4mn barrels of oil equivalent daily.
OMV is also Gazprom's partner on the construction of the Nord Stream-2 pipeline running from northwestern Russia under the Baltic Sea to Germany.
In 2016, the Russian side offered OMV access to several sites of the Urengoy field in western Siberia, while OMV offered Gazprom developing assets in the North and Norwegian seas. There is progress in negotiations on the exchange of assets with OMV, Gazprom CEO Alexander Medvedev said in June 2016.
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