VNG – Verbundnetz Gas
Line
- Karsten Heuchert, CEO
- Klaus- Ewald Holst, Chief Commercial
- Hans -Joachim Polk, Chief Infrastructure / Technology
- Bodo Rodestock, Chief Commercial Affairs / Human
VNG - Composite Gas Aktiengesellschaft (VNG ) is a leading German natural gas producer, importer and wholesaler based in Leipzig and parent company of the VNG Group. VNG and its subsidiaries deliver to Europe municipal utilities, regional utilities and industrial companies with natural gas.
The VNG Group is active in the entire value chain of German and European gas industry and focuses on four core business areas of exploration & production, trade and services, gas transmission and storage.
History
VNG - Verbundnetz Gas was founded on 29 June 1990, two days before the entry into force of the German - German economic and monetary union, as a private limited company.
But in 1958 originated in the " VVB composite economy" the first VNG precursor "VEB grid East", " West" and "center". In July of the same year the VEB grid Western forms the technical management remote gas. In 1963, the three composite Network Operations unite to form a composite network VEB Berlin. In January 1969 it created the VEB grid gas. This purely technical operation, the supply of the population certainly exclusively by city gas in the early years. This is produced mainly from domestic lignite. With the beginning of the Russian natural gas deliveries from May 1973, the VEB accepts grid gas also its distribution and storage. The Russian import natural gas is three times more efficient and environmentally friendly than the town gas until then exclusively used. However, the GDR is this valuable raw material mainly for industry a, because the supplies are to be paid in foreign exchange and in kind. Until 1989, the GDR increased the imported amount up to seven billion cubic meters annually. By the end of 1989, 2% of East German households were supplied with natural gas.
VNG is the first of the THA successfully privatized large enterprises in eastern Germany. First shareholders were with a 35% share of the Essenes Ruhrgas AG (now E.ON Ruhrgas ) and with 10% of the BEB Brigitta natural gas and oil GmbH, Hannover. The remaining shares would remain first in the THA. In the summer of 1991, the remaining shares were sold, thus completing the privatization. To Ruhrgas and BEB, Wintershall (15%), 14 East German cities and municipal enterprises come ( together 15%), with 5 %, the British Gas, the French ELF, the Russian Gazprom, Norway's Statoil and the East German gas producer Oil Gas Gommern.
In the wake of German reunification, the company was faced with the task to convert the East German households from urban to natural gas to diversify its natural gas supplies to build the lines and connect them to the European natural gas transport system. The sale of natural gas to industrial customers and municipal utilities has been restructured.
In the first fiscal year of VNG AG 1990/91 the gas importer builds 250 km lines and is 600 km city gas pipelines to natural gas. In June 1995, the conversion of East Germany was completed urban to natural gas in Leipzig. By 1995, VNG invested approximately EUR 767 million in the conversion of approximately 6,100 km of high- pressure lines from city to NG as well as in the construction of 700 km of lines and increasing the capacity of its underground storage facilities. In September 1992, the VNG network with the West German and thus Western European natural gas composite system was connected. A year later, closes VNG from a long-term gas supply agreement for Norwegian gas. This is also the one-sided dependence on Russian natural gas lifted.
From the mid- 1990s, the VNG put a reinforced for the use of natural gas as a fuel. In September 1996, she financed in Leipzig the first public natural gas filling station in Saxony. In 2001, she presented for the first time together with automotive manufacturers and gas companies with a joint stand at the international motor show AMI in Leipzig. The company owns a fleet of 150 natural gas-powered vehicles. The VNG is also the initiator of the countries initiative groups natural gas as fuel (IEK ) and is the Chairman of the IEK at the federal level.
The mid-1990s begins VNG to align internationally and to seek new partners abroad. One focus initially form the eastern neighbors of Germany. The VNG is involved in addition to their investments in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia also to companies in Austria, Italy and Norway. In 2006, VNG a subsidiary in Norway. VNG Norge based in Stavanger is responsible for upstream activities, ie it is involved in the exploration and production of natural gas from the North Sea. At the beginning of 2013 was a consortium in which VNG Norge has a 20 %, off the coast of Norway, an oil field with a size of 30 to 100 million barrels of oil equivalent.
In the bioenergy sector, VNG is also active in 2007, the Bio-CNG daughter balance VNG founded Bioenergy GmbH. This is above all advance projects to feed biogas into the natural gas pipeline networks.
Shareholders
Rounded stock shares
In January 2009, EWE announced that EnBW will buy your share of the VNG to EnBW; This had been agreed at the start of EnBW at the EWE and the required antitrust clearance from the Federal Cartel was carried out under conditions in August 2009. The planned sale of the EWE stake in EnBW failed in December 2011, after the other shareholders had refused their necessary approval. In March 2010, the Russian energy giant Gazprom acquired the shares of the French energy group GDF Suez, which he henceforth holds a total of 10.52% of VNG.
Figures
( Source: Annual reports of VNG - Verbundnetz Gas AG, 2007-2012)
Gas pipeline network
Within the VNG Group, the Ontras Gastransport the second largest German gas pipeline network ready, which guarantees a secure gas supplies in cooperation with European gas transmission networks and distribution networks as well as numerous gas reservoirs. The cable network runs through the states of Saxony, Saxony -Anhalt, Thuringia, Brandenburg / Berlin and Mecklenburg- Vorpommern. As part of the 3rd EU internal energy market package Ontras was fully unbundled and has since been responsible for the operation and maintenance of networks and systems.
Memory
In implementation of the 3rd EU internal energy market package, the storage business VNG VNG on gas storage GmbH was transferred with effect from 2 January 2012. Currently, the storage company has at its four underground gas storage facilities in Bad Lauchstaedt, Bernburg, Buchholz and Kirchheilingen a working gas volume of 2.6 billion cubic meters. VNG memory is considered as the third largest storage operator.
In Germany there are a total of 47 natural gas storage with a storage volume of approximately 20.3 billion standard cubic meters ( BDEW). This means that around 32 % of the annual natural gas consumption in Germany can be met solely from the memories.