OREANDA-NEWS. November 12, 2008. Novy Urengoy today hosted the celebrations on the occasion of the pilot production launch at section A1 of the Achimov deposits in the Urengoy oil, gas and condensate field.

Taking part in the event were Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Management Committee of Gazprom, Jurgen Hambrecht, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE, Reinier Zwitserloot, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of Wintershall Holding AG, Yury Neyolov, Governor of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, as well as the leadership of Gazprom dobycha Urengoy and Achimgaz.

In his welcoming speech Alexey Miller declared: “Gazprom and BASF are linked by more than 15 years of successful cooperation, participation in large-scale infrastructure projects and joint gas supply operations in Europe. Today we are adding a new chapter to the history of our partnership. Jointly with our German partners we have launched gas production from the Achimov deposits in the Urengoy field, which are more complex to develop, compared to the traditional Cenomanian and Valanginian deposits.

We believe Achimgaz is a model of successfully organized joint business between Gazprom and a foreign partner in hydrocarbon production in Russia”.

“We not only receive natural gas and market it jointly with Gazprom, but we also produce it together in Russia. For Germany and Europe this means higher reliability of gas supplies.

The Achimov deposits as well as the Yuzhno-Russkoye field are extremely significant to us. On joining these projects BASF has become the first European company actively participating in natural gas production in Western Siberia fields,” stated Jurgen Hambrecht.