Frankfurt, June 1, 2007 LAWFUEL – The Law Firm News Wire – Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw is advising the Ludwigshafen based company BASF AG and its subsidiary Wintershall AG regarding a dispute with Moncrief Oil International Inc.
Moncrief Oil International Inc. claims it was excluded from the exploitation of the Jushno-Russkoye gas field in Siberia. This had allegedly been agreed with the Russian natural gas corporation Gazprom.
Moncrief is claiming that BASF and Wintershall encouraged Gazprom to ignore the various contractual obligations allegedly owed to Moncrief. BASF and Wintershall have not recognized any legal foundation for these claims and do not see their cooperation with Gazprom affected.
At a hearing on 31 May, 2007, the District Court (Landgericht) of Frankenthal confirmed this view of BASF and Wintershall, announcing dismissal of the complaint which is scheduled for judgment on 5
July, 2007.
Moncrief and Gazprom have crossed before. As early as 2005 Moncrief filed a suit in a Texas district court against Gazprom, Wintershall and Ruhrgas, a subsidiary of E.ON. The court dismissed the
complaint for lack of jurisdiction. Moncrief appealed against this decision which was again dismissed.
The Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw team was lead by German partner Dr. Mark C. Hilgard, who has worked with BASF and Wintershall on a number of matters.
