Wintershall-DEA Tie-up to Save 'at least $230mn/yr'

Wintershall's takeover of fellow German DEA is on course for closure during the first half of 2019 and will  bring synergies of at least €200mn ($230mn)/year, Wintershall said February 21.

Thesee  are expected from production increases and cost reductions. Almost a quarter of the 4,200 full-time jobs  are expected to go, of which about 800 are in Germany and the rest in Norway, mainly related to the completion of ongoing large development projects. 

More than half of the job reductions in Germany are planned within the corporate functions at both locations in Hamburg and Kassel and some at the German production sites. Wintershall DEA's future German business unit will be in the home city of DEA, Hamburg.

The merger will make the new company the largest independent gas and oil producer in Europe. Daily joint production of about 575,000 barrels of oil equivalent/day in 2017 will go up by around 40% to 800,000 barrels between 2021 and 2023. Output growth is expected to come from both companies’ existing portfolio as well as new production regions such as Mexico, where DEA has made a recent entry,  and Abu Dhabi.