BASF SE FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany-based gas trader Wingas will transfer its U.K. commercial activities to a subsidiary of parent company Gazprom (>> Gazprom PAO) from May 2017, a news release on Gazprom Energy's website said on Thursday.
"The process will allow the customers of Wingas UK to benefit from Gazprom Energy's wider gas and power offering," it said. "There will be no disruption to services for existing customers."
Gazprom, which supplies a third of Europe's natural gas, is reorganising its global trade.
This became evident in its full takeover of Wingas in October 2015: it had previously shared ownership with German chemicals firm BASF (>> BASF SE).
A spokesman for Wingas in Germany said the aim was to integrate Wingas more closely into Gazprom's pan-European business.
"We are looking at doing away with duplicate structure and increasing efficiencies," he said.
Gazprom Energy, a Manchester-based firm that deals with small and medium-sized industrial customers, is a 100 percent subsidiary of Gazprom Marketing and Trading (GMT), based in London and involved in big volume business in the wholesale market.
Kassel-based Wingas holds a 20 percent market share in Germany, employing 400, and has interests in many European regional markets, playing on its high profile among industry and local utility customers.
Europe's increasingly diverse supply sources and savvy customers mean competition is intense and profitability in the sector has suffered.
(Reporting by Vera Eckert; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
