Wintershall (BASF Group) that is diversifying its sources of supply will acquire shares in oil and gas fields in the North Sea from Statoil for US$1.25bn (€970m). Wintershall will acquire shares in the two producing fields Gjøa (5%) and Vega (24.5%), the development project Aasta Hansteen (24%), the Asterix discovery (19%), the Polarled pipeline project (13.2%), as well as equity in four exploration licenses in the vicinity of Aasta Hansteen. The shares in the assets comprise reserves and resources of around 170 Mboe. Wintershall will thereby raise its daily production in Norway – from currently 40,000 boe to around 60,000 boe. In addition, the companies agreed that Wintershall will become operator of the producing field Vega, subject to the approval of the authorities and consent of the other license partners. The closing of the transaction is expected by the end of 2014, subject to the approval of the appropriate authorities.