Wintershall is the operator of more than half of the 50 licences in Norway

As a result of the transaction, the daily oil and gas production in Norway rose from around 3,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) to just under 40,000 boe. In addition, in October 2013 Wintershall took over the operatorship of the Brage oilfield with a major production platform on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Brage was the first producing platform that Statoil has handed over to a new operator. The majority of the former Statoil employees have now moved over to Wintershall and continue to work on Brage.

The company is the operator of more than half of the 50 licences in Norway. This makes Wintershall one of the big licence-holders in the country. The company’s licence portfolio in the North Sea was expanded in 2013 with the award of four new exploration licences in Norway and six new blocks in the British North Sea. The plans for the development and operation of the Knarr and Edvard Grieg oil fields have been approved by the Norwegian authorities. In December 2013 Wintershall sold selected assets on the British Continental Shelf to the Hungarian MOL Group as part of our portfolio optimization. The transaction is expected to conclude in the first quarter of 2014 with retroactive financial effect as of January 1, 2013.

Wintershall’s cooperation with its long-standing partner Gazprom is proof that partnerships are possible, and indeed successful, over many decades. The two companies further developed their cooperation in 2013. As part of an asset swap, Wintershall will acquire 25 percent plus one share in two additional blocks in the Achimov Formation within the Urengoy field in Western Siberia in 2014. In the plateau phase we expect an annual production of at least eight billion cubic metres of gas from the two Achimov blocks. The start of production is scheduled for 2016. “With this asset swap we are taking our strategic partnership at the source with Gazprom another step further,” Seele said. “We are producing, investing and learning together. And we are doing so where it is complex and difficult because we know that we are good when we work together,” the Wintershall CEO explained.

The quality of the cooperation is evident in the development of block IA in the Achimov formation within the Urengoi field in Russia. Wintershall has already been involved in this project for a decade and holds a stake of 50 percent in the joint venture Achimgaz. The gradual development of this field was accelerated; 25 wells were producing at the end of 2013. The joint venture plans to increase production to an annual plateau of eight billion cubic metres by 2018 with over 100 wells.