BASF, Gazprom Call Off Asset Swap Due to Current Political Environment

By Sarah Sloat 

FRANKFURT--German chemical company BASF SE and Russia's Gazprom have called off an asset swap deal that was set to be completed this year because of the difficult political environment, BASF said Thursday.

The collapse of the natural-gas storage and trading deal means BASF now expects earnings for interest and taxes to be slightly rather than considerably higher this year, as it won't collect income from divestitures related to the transaction. BASF will also book expenses of EUR113 million for 2013 and EUR211 million for 2014, it said.

"Due to current political difficulties we have agreed with Gazprom not to complete the transaction," a spokeswoman said.

The natural-gas trading business will continue to operate as a 50-50 joint venture between state-owned Gazprom and BASF's Wintershall unit, BASF said.

In the swap, Wintershall would have transferred the jointly operated natural- gas trading and storage business to Gazprom. Gazprom would have received a 50% share in the activities of Wintershall Noordzee, which is active in the exploration and production of oil and gas. These activities together contributed around EUR12 billion to sales and about EUR500 million to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization at BASF in 2013.

In return, Gazprom and Wintershall planned to jointly develop two additional blocks of a natural-gas field in Siberia.

Write to Sarah Sloat at [e-mail]

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