Fluxys G Acquires Eni Stakes in German and Swiss Pipelines

Fluxys G has today announced the finalisation of a stake acquisition deal with Italian Eni to take over Eni's stake in German pipeline Trans Europa Naturgas Pipeline (TENP) and Swiss pipeline Transitgas.

"The agreements involve the sale of 100 per cent of Eni's shares in Eni Gas Transport International SA and 46 per cent of Transitgas AG ("Transitgas system"), as well as 100 per cent of both Eni Gas Transport Deutschland SpA and Eni Gas Transport GmbH," a statement for Eni said. "The latter owns 49 per cent of Trans Europa Naturgas Pipeline KG and 50 per cent of Trans Europa Naturgas Pipeline GmbH ("TENP system")."

Eni estimates the value of the transactions at approximately 1,068 million Swiss Francs for Transitgas and €60 million for TENP.

 Managing Director of Fluxys G Walter Peeraer said the acquisition was just the beginning of Fluxys G's gas transit efforts.

"Until now our assets provided capacity to flow gas between Germany and the UK, between the Netherlands and the UK, and from Zeebrugge or the Netherlands to France," he said. "Now we will be moving gas between the North and the South of Europe as well. We have now become a European transmission system operator, linking through our system the markets of the UK, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.

"This is a huge step forward in implementing our strategy and making the concept of a regional gas market more concrete and more palpable. And this is just the beginning because we fully back the investment project underway to turn the TENP and Transitgas pipelines into an infrastructure moving gas not only from north to south but also from south to north.

"We also envisage to reinforce the Stolberg-Raeren/Eynatten link to provide more capacity between the TENP pipeline and the Belgian network. Through these investments we will establish a fully functional market providing for easy gas transfers between the gas trading places in Germany, Italy, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and the UK.

"It is also our firm intention to further increase cooperation with other gas infrastructure companies, both in the Northwest and the South of Europe, to look into the development of new services to promote and facilitate transfers between those gas trading places."

Swiss Gas holds a 51 per cent in Transitgas, with E.ON Ruhrgas holding 3 percent. E.ON also holds the remaining 51 percent stake in TENP.