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Ruhrgas

From Alfawiki
Ruhrgas AG
Company typeAktiengesellschaft
IndustryNatural gas transportation and trading
PredecessorAktiengesellschaft für Kohleverwertung
Founded1926
FounderVereinigte Stahlwerke AG and Zeche Mathias Stinnes
Defunct2 May 2013
FateMerged into E.ON Global Commodities SE (now Uniper Global Commodities SE)
Headquarters
Essen
,
Germany
Area served
Germany, Europe
ProductsNatural gas transportation and trading
OwnerE.ON (from 2003)
ParentE.ON (from 2003)

Ruhrgas AG—initially named Aktiengesellschaft für Kohleverwertung and later known as E.ON Ruhrgas—was Germany’s foremost company in natural gas transportation and trading, headquartered in Essen. Established in 1926, it was dissolved on 2 May 2013 following its merger into E.ON Global Commodities SE (currently Uniper Global Commodities SE).

1929-1940

Founded in 1926 by Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG alongside Zeche Mathias Stinnes, the company began as Aktiengesellschaft für Kohleverwertung, overseeing coal gas distribution from Ruhr district coking plants. In 1928, after acquiring a pipeline system from RWE AG, it adopted the name Ruhrgas AG. By the end of the 1920s, it had secured gas supply agreements with several cities such as Cologne, Düsseldorf, Hanover, and Saarbrücken. By 1930, sales amounted to , supported by a pipeline network spanning . By 1936, the pipeline infrastructure reached , delivering coal gas from 32 coking plants to industrial clients including the Adam Opel works.

The discovery of natural gas near Bad Bentheim in 1938 led the Reich Ministry of Economics to assign Ruhrgas in 1939 the task of integrating this resource into its system. Although World War II caused delays, by 1944 a pipeline stretching connected Bad Bentheim to Hüls chemical works. Despite wartime damages, approximately 90% of the pipeline network was restored by late 1945.

During the 1940s, Ruhrgas collaborated with Lurgi AG to develop the Lurgi–Ruhrgas process, a method for low-temperature liquefaction of lignite and oil shale.

Starting in 1948, Ruhrgas and Thyssengas initiated coal gas exports to the Netherlands. By 1965, the company had expanded its pipeline network to , with total gas sales reaching , including a natural gas share of 10%.

Agreements with Soviet Union and Norway

In 1970, Ruhrgas entered its inaugural contract to import 52.5 billion cubic metres of natural gas from the Soviet Union, valued at $762 million. The Soviets requested steel pipeline materials from West Germany in exchange, prompting Mannesmann and Thyssen to manufacture an unprecedented order of 1.3 million tonnes of steel. Additionally, a loan between 1.2 and 1.5 billion Deutsche Mark was negotiated involving the Russian Bank of International Trade and four German banks. This positioned Ruhrgas as Germany’s leading importer and distributor of natural gas. In 1971, together with Snam and Swissgas, Ruhrgas commenced supplying natural gas to Switzerland through the Trans Europa Naturgas Pipeline.

Ruhrgas secured a contract in 1973 to purchase natural gas from Norway’s Ekofisk field via the Norpipe pipeline, with deliveries beginning in 1977. That same year, it procured Soviet gas routed through East Germany to supply West Berlin. In 1975, Ruhrgas partnered with Gaz de France to establish Mittel-Europäische-Gasleitungsgesellschaft for constructing the MEGAL pipeline intended for transporting Russian gas to France and southern Germany; this pipeline became operational in 1980. A contract signed in 1982 with Soyuzgasexport supported building the Urengoy–Pomary–Uzhhorod pipeline; Ruhrgas also joined a consortium importing Norwegian gas from the Statfjord field after Statpipe’s launch in 1985.

By 1998, Ruhrgas managed an extensive pipeline network measuring 10,361 km, complemented by 26 compressor stations and a dozen underground storage sites, distributing an annual volume of 50.9 billion cubic metres of natural gas.

In 1999, Ruhrgas contributed $3.5 million toward restoring the Amber Room located within the Catherine Palace near Saint Petersburg.

E.ON

In March 2003, the energy corporation E.ON took over Ruhrgas, which was subsequently rebranded as E.ON Ruhrgas on 1 July 2004. At that juncture, it held a 6.5% equity interest in the Russian gas giant Gazprom, making it the largest foreign investor. Gazprom reacquired this stake in October 2009 through an asset exchange agreement. Afterward, E.ON Ruhrgas secured a 25% ownership (less three ordinary shares plus three preference shares) in Severneftegazprom, the company managing the Yuzhno-Russkoye field.

In June 2005, E.ON Ruhrgas purchased a majority 51% share in Romanian gas provider DistriGaz Nord, which was then renamed E.ON Gaz România. Later that year, on 8 September 2005, it became a participant in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline initiative, which commenced operations in 2011.

By 2008, E.ON Ruhrgas controlled roughly of pipeline infrastructure. In July 2010, the company acquired a 15% interest in the Trans Adriatic Pipeline project.

Following the implementation of the EU Third Energy Package, on 1 September 2010, E.ON Ruhrgas’s gas transmission and storage assets were transferred to E.ON Gastransport and subsequently rebranded as Open Grid Europe. On 2 May 2013, E.ON Ruhrgas merged with E.ON Global Commodities SE, an entity now incorporated into Uniper.

The Ruhrgas brand persists within Uniper Ruhrgas International GmbH, a subsidiary of Uniper established originally as E.ON Ruhrgas International GmbH in 1994 to oversee Ruhrgas’s international operations.

Shareholders

Prior to its acquisition by E.ON, Ruhrgas’s ownership structure consisted of:

Bibliography

  • Aurélie Bros, Tatiana Mitrova, Kirsten Westphal, German-Russian Gas Relations. A Special Relationship in Troubled Waters, SWP Research Paper, German Institute for International and Security Affairs, December 2017

External links

  • Documents and clippings about the company
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