OREANDA-NEWS. October 2, 2008. OAO Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and E.ON AG CEO Dr. Wulf Bernotat signed an Agreement on joint participation in the project to develop the Yuzhno-Russkoye oil and gas field today in St. Petersburg in the presence of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The agreement foresees an exchange of assets giving E.ON AG 25% minus one ordinary registered share in the share capital of OAO Severneftegazprom and thus the right to participate in the development of the Yuzhno-Russkoye field.

Gazprom will receive 49% in ZAO Gerosgaz, which owns 2.93% of OAO Gazprom. As a result, Gazprom will take full ownership of this stake. E.ONRuhrgas will retain direct ownership of 3.5% of Gazprom.

In the economic sense, the exchange of assets will come into effect on January 1, 2009. The close of the transaction is scheduled for the second half of 2009.

“Gazprom and E.ON have once again demonstrated that they are long-term strategic partners working together along the entire value-creation chain. We are happy to welcome E.ON to the project to develop the Yuzhno-Russkoye field. It will be the third partner and will be able to take part in gas production in Russia,” said Mr. Miller.

“Participation in the development of the Yuzhno-Russkoye field will make it possible to deepen our long-standing partnership with Gazprom, make an important contribution to the strengthening of mutual understanding between Germany and Russia and make the supply of natural gas to Europe more reliable,” said Wulf Bernotat, “After the acquisition of the Russian energy company OGK-4, this event is the latest significant step towards increasing E.ON’s share of the Russian energy market.”