GDF Suez SA and infrastructure investment units of Deutsche Bank AG, AXA SA and Prudential Plc made initial bids for Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc natural-gas storage facilities in Germany, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
Exxon and Shell may enter negotiations with the four bidders after they made indicative offers at the end of July, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the process is private. Exxon and Shell are seeking to sell the BEB Erdgas und Erdoel GmbH venture’s two smallest facilities, and Houston-based Exxon wants to sell further gas storage, the people said. The total value of the deal may exceed 1 billion euros ($1.29 billion), said one of the people.
Exxon, Shell and other oil companies are selling pipelines, refineries and filling stations, as they boost spending on more profitable oil and gas production. Shell said today that it agreed to sell its Heide refinery in Germany to U.K. private equity firm Klesch & Co., and Exxon sold a stake in a Norwegian pipeline network in April.
Gabriele Radke, a spokeswoman for Exxon in Hamburg, declined to comment, as did Shell spokesman Kim Blomley. Spokespeople for GDF Suez and for Deutsche Bank’s RREEF unit declined to comment. David Butcher, a spokesman for Prudential’s investment arm declined to comment. Axa Investment Managers spokeswoman Niasha Don Carolis in London said she couldn’t immediately comment when contacted by phone.
Shell and Exxon hold equal stakes in the Hanover, Germany- based gas-storage company, which operates the 750-million cubic meter Uelsen facility, the 129-million cubic meter Harsefeld site and a larger facility in Doettlingen, according to BEB’s website. Most gas storage in Germany is in the north of the country, where rock formations are suited to holding the fuel.
Exxon, the largest U.S. oil company, sold its 9.43 percent stake in Norwegian gas-pipeline network Gassled to Njord Gas Infrastructure AS in April. Shell said last year that it was in talks to sell the 90,000 barrel-a-day Heide refinery as well as the Hamburg-Harburg plant in Germany and Stanlow facility in the U.K.
Exxon and Shell sold about 3,100 kilometers (1,925 miles) of gas pipelines in Germany to Dutch grid operator Nederlandse Gasunie NV in 2007.