The Story of Wintershall Dea, which Severed Ties with the Russian Federation, Ended with the Sale of Its Main Assets
The British independent mining company Harbour Energy has completed the purchase of the main mining assets of the German Wintershall Dea, which was the largest oil and gas company in Germany.
According to the Wintershall Dea report, since September 3, Wintershall Dea‘s exploration and production business (with the exception of joint projects with Gazprom) has been transferred to Harbour Energy plc.
“Wintershall Dea is an energy company with a long history, the last chapter of which is now being written,“ the company sums up in a press release reference.
The decision to sell the business was made by the shareholders of Wintershall Dea after a fundamental decision to sever ties with Russia, which brought the German company the highest revenues and the highest margin.
The new owner of the assets put up for sale refused both the services of the Wintershall Dea head offices and the management that led the company to end its activities. Offices will close and 800 people will lose their jobs in Kassel and Hamburg. Chairman of the Management Board Mario Meren, Chief Operating Officer Don Summers and Chief Financial Officer Paul Smith have already left their positions.
Wintershall Dea retains joint assets with Gazprom: joint ventures in Russia (Severneftegazprom, Achimgaz and others), as well as shares in Wintershall AG (an asset in Libya), Wintershall Noordzee BV (North Sea), Nord Stream AG.
The remaining Wintershall Dea staff will handle the handling of claims regarding the fate of assets in Russia, the sale of remaining assets, organizational restructuring and, ultimately, the closure of the headquarters units in Kassel and Hamburg.
A day earlier, Wintershall Dea announced the sale of SEFE Securing Energy for Europe GmbH (SEFE – before the German government confiscated Gazprom Germania) shares in the gas transportation joint venture WIGA Transport Beteiligungs–GmbH & Co. KG and WIGA Verwaltungs–GmbH. The deal makes SEFE the sole shareholder of the company. WIGA is the sole shareholder of the German gas transmission system operators Gascade Gastransport GmbH (GASCADE) and NEL Gastransport GmbH. The Gascade gas transmission system with a length of over 4 thousand km was created jointly by Gazprom and Wintershall.
