Beginning in 2014, Verbundnetz Gas (VNG) plans to procure an additional one billion cubic meters of natural gas per annum from Wintershall Erdgas Handelshaus (WIEH).
The existing international import contract between the German-Russian joint venture, WIEH, and VNG covers around 90 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas from Russia for the period 2014 to the end of 2030.
With the new agreement, the supply volume increases by a further 17bcm for the same period. The new contract between WIEH and VNG is expected to commence on January 1, 2014, and will end on January 1, 2031.
WIEH had earlier signed a declaration of intention regarding the early extension of the existing supply contract with Russian gas monopoly, Gazprom, to 35 years and, as a result, secured for its customers a total of more than 500bcm of natural gas from Russia, up to the end of 2043.
