Germany – The sale of Wintershall Dea’s E&P operations to Harbour Energy is complete. The company is selling its production and exploration activities in Norway, Argentina, Germany, Mexico, Algeria, Libya, Egypt and Denmark. Also involved are the permits for CCS. Operations in Russia were excluded from the sale.
Under the agreement, Harbour Energy will pay $2.15 billion to shareholders BASF and LetterOne. The companies will also receive a total 54.5% stake in Harbour. The total value of Wintershall Dea has been set at $11.2 billion. Wintershall Dea’s headquarters and local employees in Hamburg and Kassel are not part of the sale. In June, the company and employee organizations reached an agreement for a social plan for the 800 affected employees who will lose their jobs. Some of them will join Harbour. The sale will transfer 1,200 people from Wintershall Dea to Harbour anyway.
The parties agreed to the transaction late last year. With the completion of the sale, BASF is taking an important step to exit the oil and gas market completely. The German company plans to phase out its stake in Harbour Energy over the next few years.
With the sale to Harbour, Wintershall’s international E&P business is now also legally separated from its operations in Russia. BASF and LetterOne remain owners of Wintershall Dea, which houses the Russian operations. Management announced its gradual withdrawal from Russia in 2023.
In March, Wintershall Dea completed the sale of its 50.02% stake in WIGA to SEFE Securing Energy for Europe (SEFE). SEFE already owned the remaining 49.98% of the gas transportation company’s shares and is now the sole shareholder in WIGA.
