October 5 (SeeNews) - State-owned Gaz de France said on Friday it has acquired 59% of Romania’s second-largest natural gas storage operator Depomures for an undisclosed sum.
Gaz de France has acquired a 50% stake in Depomures from Romanian fertilizer maker Azomures and a further nine percent stake from Infochem, the French company said in a statement. Romanian gas producer Romgaz owns 40% of Depomures and minority shareholders own the remainder.
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Depomures runs the gas storage facility, located in a depleted natural gas field in Targu Mures in central Rumania. The facility can now store up to 300 million cubic metres of natural gas. Its storage capacity should reach 600 million cubic metres by 2011-2012.
“This acquisition provides Gaz de France with an opportunity to reinforce its activities in Romania, where the group has been present since 2005 via its subsidiary Distrigaz Sud. […] Gaz de France is also pursuing, thanks to Amgaz and Depomures, the international deployment of this activity, which represents an essential link in the gas supply chain,” Gaz de France vice president for central Europe, Jean-François Carriere, said in the statement.
Gaz de France already owns a 65% stake in Romania’s third-largest gas storage operator Amgaz, which has a capacity of 40 million cubic metres. In May 2005 it acquired a 51% stake in Romanian gas distributor Distrigaz Sud for 311 million euro ($439 million).
The French utility said it now operates the second-largest storage capacity in Europe with facilities in France, Germany, Slovakia, the UK, and Romania.
($ = 0.7084 euro)