Moscow. BASF AG and Russia's OAO Gazprom today (December 18, 2007) officially launched production operations at the Russian natural gas field Yuzhno Russkoye. This is the first time that a German company has been directly involved in the production of natural gas in West Siberia. In an official ceremony at the Gazprom headquarters in Moscow, Alexey B. Miller, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of OAO Gazprom, and Eggert Voscherau, Vice Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF, pressed the button to launch production operations at the Yuzhno Russkoye gas field together with Dmitry A. Medvedev, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of OAO Gazprom, and the Germany Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Shortly beforehand, the completion of work at the gas field was confirmed in a live broadcast from Siberia.
The Yuzhno Russkoye field in West Siberia has recoverable reserves of more than 600 billion cubic meters of natural gas, which makes it about three times the size of Achimgaz, another joint venture project between Gazprom and Wintershall to produce hydrocarbons in Siberia. Gazprom currently supplies Germany with about 40 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year. The Yuzhno Russkoye gas field alone could therefore supply all Russian gas exports to Germany for another 15 years based on this figure.
"We are not just purchasing gas from Russia and selling it together with Gazprom we are now producing gas together in Russia, too. That means supply security not just for Germany, but for all of Europe," explained Voscherau. "When Gazprom and BASF signed the first agreements at the beginning of the 1990 s, no one could have imagined how successful this partnership would become. Today, the ties between the two companies are deep, strong and steadfast," said BASF's Vice Chairman. "BASF and Gazprom this is partnership in action, a partnership for the future."
The Yuzhno Russkoye field in West Siberia has recoverable reserves of more than 600 billion cubic meters of natural gas, which makes it about three times the size of Achimgaz, another joint venture project between Gazprom and Wintershall to produce hydrocarbons in Siberia. Gazprom currently supplies Germany with about 40 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year. The Yuzhno Russkoye gas field alone could therefore supply all Russian gas exports to Germany for another 15 years based on this figure.
"We are not just purchasing gas from Russia and selling it together with Gazprom we are now producing gas together in Russia, too. That means supply security not just for Germany, but for all of Europe," explained Voscherau. "When Gazprom and BASF signed the first agreements at the beginning of the 1990 s, no one could have imagined how successful this partnership would become. Today, the ties between the two companies are deep, strong and steadfast," said BASF's Vice Chairman. "BASF and Gazprom this is partnership in action, a partnership for the future."
