Today, at the Gazprom Headquarters, Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and Marcel Kramer, Chief Executive Officer of Gasunie inked in the presence of Joop Wijn, Minister for Economic Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands a Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation in Joint Involvement in the NEGP and BBL Projects as well as Utilization of Gasunie’s Transmission Capacity.

In pursuance of the MOU, Gazprom will become shareholder of BBL Company, with Gasunie’s stake to account for not less than 51 per cent. Furthermore, Gasunie will receive a 9 per cent stake in North European Gas Pipeline Company.

The parties will study the potential for Gazprom to make use of Gasunie’s gas infrastructure including underground gas storage facilities. The parties also achieved the accord to talk over the conclusion of long-term contracts enabling Gazprom to use Gasunie’s transmission capacity in the national gas transmission system of the Netherlands.

“Gasunie is very glad to sign this Memorandum of Understanding that represents the next step towards entering into a final agreement. The companies record perfect interaction. The governments of both countries give full support to our joint businesses, which is of utmost importance for executing a project of this scale,” stated Marcel Kramer.

“The Memorandum raises our cooperation with Gasunie to a qualitatively new level. By joining our forces and experience, we will be able to successfully implement prominent projects targeted at secure and long-term gas deliveries to European consumers,” maintained Alexey Miller.

Reference:

N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie is a gas infrastructure and transmission company based in the Netherlands. The company owns one of the largest gas distribution networks in Europe, which is some 12,000 km in overall length, and annually supplies a total of some 100 bcm of gas.

The Dutch BBL Company (BBL: Balgzand Bacton Line) is responsible for constructing and operating the BBL interconnector between the Netherlands and the Great Britain. The shareholders of BBL Company are Gasunie (60 per cent), E.ON Ruhrgas (20 per cent) and Fluxys (20 per cent).

The Russia-Germany joint venture North European Gas Pipeline Company was founded in December 2005 for the purpose of engineering, building and operating the North European Gas Pipeline running under the Baltic Sea. The company’s shareholding is split between Gazprom (51 per cent) and BASF and E.ON (24.5 per cent each). Upon execution of the pertinent deal, BASF and E.ON will each sell Gasunie a 4.5 per cent stake in NEGP Company.