LUDWIGSHAFEN (dpa-AFX) - Despite the announced review by the Federal Ministry of Economics, BASF CFO Dirk Elvermann sees no obstacles to the planned sale of the oil and gas subsidiary Wintershall Dea to the British oil company Harbour Energy. Elvermann told the news agencies dpa-AFX and dpa that the review was a matter of course in the Foreign Trade and Payments Act and in a corresponding ordinance. BASF announced the sale in December.

The German government intends to subject the deal, which is due to be completed in the fourth quarter, to an investment review. The agreement includes the transfer of the production and development business and exploration rights in several countries, as well as licenses for the capture and storage of carbon dioxide.

"The Wintershall Dea assets to be divested do not represent critical infrastructure," said Elvermann. Only a minority stake in the transmission system operator Nowega could be considered part of the critical infrastructure. Wintershall Dea is only indirectly involved in this via a minority shareholding in Erdgas Münster. This was the trigger for the Federal Government's audit.

In addition, Wintershall Dea is continuing preparations for the separate sale of its stake in Wiga. This company is active in the gas transportation business - the operationally independent Wiga subsidiaries operate high-pressure pipeline systems, including the transportation network of Gascade as well as Opal and NEL.

The pipelines were originally used to distribute Russian gas in Germany, said Elvermann. Now they are being used to land liquefied natural gas from other countries, such as the USA.

- possibly also for hydrogen in the future. "This critical

infrastructure is not part of the deal with Harbour Energy," Elvermann emphasized. Wintershall Dea wants to sell its share of these pipelines separately. The German government is the first point of contact here.

In contrast to earlier German-British deals, the UK is no longer part of the EU, said the CFO. However, a British buyer had never been refused a purchase in an investment protection review. "We are very confident about the review."/wo/DP/he