WINGAS takes over Hydro share of the HydroWingas joint venture

WINGAS expands its activities in the UK

Kassel. The Norwegian Group Norsk Hydro is selling its 50% share in the HydroWingas joint venture, in which both companies previously held an equal share, to WINGAS GmbH. Hydro accepted an offer from WINGAS for Hydro's stakeholding in HydroWingas. An agreement has now been signed by both partners and the purchase is now subject to the final agreement of the EU competition authority. The energy company WINGAS (based in Kassel in Germany) is currently expanding its business activities across Europe and this includes strengthening its role in the British market.

The HydroWingas joint venture, which was founded at the end of 2003, started its activities in what is currently the largest gas market in the European Union in the spring of 2004. Its core business area is the sale of natural gas into the I&C and the wholesale market: the joint venture currently supplies over 60 larger I&C customers with about 250 sites and also has large-volume contracts with wholesalers.

“We have built up our business together with our partner Hydro in just a few years”, Dr. Rainer Seele, Chairman of WINGAS, explained. “That proves that we have gained the confidence of our customers with our range of services and our know-how”. Sales of HydroWingas increased by 50 percent to 1.2 billion cubic meters in 2006 alone.

The growing demand for natural gas, especially due to the increasing use of natural gas to generate electricity and heat, and falling domestic production means that the UK will be increasingly dependent on gas imports in coming years. “As a competitive and service-oriented provider, we will continue to make a significant contribution to securing a long-term and reliable gas supply for the UK through WINGAS“, WINGAS Chairman Dr Seele explained. At the same time, WINGAS will profit from the emerging growth potential of the British market.

“The close partnership between the WINGAS shareholder Wintershall and Hydro remains in place”, Seele affirmed. The two companies work closely together in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas, including in the Norwegian and Danish sectors of the North Sea.

European energy provider WINGAS GmbH is active in natural gas trading and distribution in Germany, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Austria, the Czech Republic and Denmark. Its customers include municipal utilities, regional gas suppliers, industrial firms and power plants. Since 1990 WINGAS has invested more than 3 billion euros in the development of its own natural gas transport and storage infrastructure. WINGAS pipeline network, which is over 2,000 kilometers long, connects the major gas reserves in Siberia and in the North Sea to the growing markets in Western Europe. In Rehden in North Germany, WINGAS has the largest natural gas storage facility in Western Europe – with a working gas volume of over four billion cubic meters. Additional natural gas storage facilities are currently being built in Great Britain, Austria and Germany in order to secure the supply of natural gas in Europe.

PI-07-09 - 30 April 2007

Contact:
Michael Sasse
Phone +49 561 301-3301
Fax +49 561 301-1321
press@wingas.de

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