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Fridman offers 5b euros for RWE assets

MOSCOW, January 25 (Itar-Tass) - Mikhail Fridman and German Khan’s LetterOne set up by Alfa Group last summer 2013 to invest proceeds from TNK-ВР sales in oil and gas projects offers 5 billion euros for oil and gas assets of the German RWE, Dea oil company, Reuters reports with a reference to its sources.

The German Wintershall, one of Russian gas monopoly Gazprom’s major partners, has offered 3.5 billion euros, and a Kuwaiti consortium - 4.2 billion euros.

RWE’s oil and gas assets set for sales last March were earlier estimated at 5-7 billion euros. Among the reported potential buyers was a Qatari state fund Qatar Investment Authority. RWE is planning to sell Dea in 2014.

In 2012 Dea produced 31 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE), or 4.4 million tonnes. Dea has business in Germany, Britain, Norway, Egypt and Denmark, is arranging field facilities in Algeria and Libya, carries out geological prospecting in a number of countries and manages gas storage facilities in Germany. In 2012 it reported a net profit of 525 million euros and a revenue of 2.04 billion euros.

Oil and gas projects in the company are managed by LetterOne’s unit, L1 Energy, led by former co-owner and executive director of TNK-BP, German Khan. The company’s tasks are “long-term investments in oil and gas prospecting and production, oil field services, oil and gas infrastructure and other projects”, with its strategy initially stipulating buying 100 percent of businesses or controlling stakes. Alfa Group’s shareholders are going to invest $10 billion in oil and gas assets over three-five years.

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