BASF's Wintershall keen on more Russia investments

Paris

BASF oil and gas subsidiary Wintershall is keeping faith with its Russian investments and wants to do more there, despite tense relations between Moscow and Europe over Ukraine.

New chief executive Mario Mehren said that the German group's joint exploration with Russian partner Gazprom in Siberia remained its most important global project. "We are open for further projects in Russia," he told reporters during the World Gas Conference in Paris. "Russia continues to be our most important focus region," he added. "Russia needs to know that even in times of political crises we count in its energy." Mr Mehren, who took the job officially on Monday, succeeding Rainer Seele who left to head Austria's OMV, reaffirmed Wintershall's plan to invest around 500 million euros (S$749.6 million) in the existing projects Achimgaz, Yuzhno Russkoye and Volgodeminpol up to 2018. These produce 28 billion cubic metres of gas a year, enough to meet a third of Germany's annual demand.