Despite the announced review by the Federal Ministry of Economics, BASF CFO Dirk Elvermann sees no hurdles for the planned sale of the oil and gas subsidiary Wintershall Dea to the British oil company Harbor Energy.
The check is a matter of course in the Foreign Trade Act and in a corresponding regulation, Elvermann told the news agencies dpa-AFX and dpa. BASF announced the sale in December.
“No critical infrastructure”
The federal government wants to subject the deal, which is scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter, to an investment review. The agreement includes the transfer of production and development business and exploration rights in several countries, as well as licenses for carbon capture and storage.
“The Wintershall Dea assets to be sold do not represent critical infrastructure,” said Elvermann. Only a minority share in the transmission system operator Nowega could be considered part of the critical infrastructure. Wintershall Dea only has an indirect interest in this through a minority stake in Natural Gas Münster. This is the trigger for the federal government’s review.
In addition, Wintershall Dea is continuing preparations for the separate sale of its stake in Wiga. This is active in the gas transport business – the operationally independent Wiga subsidiaries operate high-pressure pipeline systems, including the Gascade transport network as well as Opal and NEL.
The federal government is the first point of contact
The pipelines were originally used to distribute Russian gas in Germany, said Elvermann. Now they would be used to land liquefied natural gas from other countries, such as the USA – and possibly also for hydrogen in the future. “This critical infrastructure is not part of the deal with Harbor Energy,” emphasized Elvermann. Wintershall Dea wants to sell its share in these pipelines separately. The federal government is the first point of contact here.
In contrast to previous German-British transactions, Great Britain is no longer part of the EU, said the finance chief. However, an English buyer has never been refused a purchase in an investment protection audit. “We are very confident about the test.”
