OMV says it, Gazprom to renegotiate acquisition of Achimov stake

MOSCOW, Apr 29 (PRIME) -- Austrian oil and gas company OMV and Russian gas giant Gazprom will have to renegotiate OMV’s acquisition of a stake in the Achimov deposits of the Urengoiskoye field as production at them will start soon, OMV CEO Rainer Seele said in a conference call on Wednesday.

“Under OMV’s initiative, we’ve agreed with Gazprom that we will not pay to buy a stake in the project for development of the 4A and 5A Achimov blocks in 2020. We have flexibility necessary to sign a new agreement until the end of 2022,” he said.

“We have enough time, but we will have to start negotiations anew as the project on the Achimov blocks will change. The investment, development project will become a producing asset next year …The type of the asset will change, and we will have to renegotiate the deal.”

In October 2018, the two companies signed a principal agreement on OMV’s acquisition of a 24.98% stake in the two blocks of the Achimov deposits. Previously, OMV and Gazprom planned to swap assets, where Gazprom was to receive a 38.5% in Norway’s OMV Norge AS in exchange for the stake in the Achimov project, but in 2019 OMV agreed to pay 905 million euros for the stake. The Austrian company planned to invest around 950 million euros in the project until 2044.

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