Wintershall Exec Backs DEA Merger, NS2
Wintershall board member for upstream in Russia, North Africa and South America, Thilo Wieland, told German newspaper Tagesspiegel December 14 that the new upstream firm it will form with DEA will be "the biggest independent oil and gas producer in Europe" when it completes in 1H 2019.
DEA is backed by Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman while Wintershall is a key producer in Russia.
Wieland, who is also responsible for German Wintershall’s financing stake in the Gazprom-led Nord Stream 2 pipeline, also responded to criticisms of that project – planned to be built by late 2019: "We view the pipeline from a purely economic perspective… It's forecast that 400bn m3 of natural gas will need to be imported in 2030" [into Europe]. He signaled no interest from Wintershall in investing in German LNG import capacity: "In particular LNG from the US is too expensive at the moment to stand a chance against cheaper pipeline gas."
His critique comes as neighbouring Poland's PGNIG Dec.19 firmed up its third US LNG import contract – from Sempra – following earlier ones firmed up with Venture Global and Cheniere. PGNiG makes no apology for its wish to reduce its reliance on Russian monopoly piped gas supplier Gazprom once its existing long-term contract with it ends in 2022.
Wieland also repeated his earlier criticism of Germany's continued lignite-fired power generation in the Tagesspiegel interview, which can be read in full on Wintershall’s website here.
(Banner photo of Wieland is courtesy of Wintershall)