VNG chronicle
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July 1, 1958VEB Verbundnetz West Dessau sets up “Technische Leitung Ferngas” in Leipzig, the forerunner of the present-day VNG. |
July 1963VEB Verbundnetz Ost, Verbundnetz West and Verbundnetz Mitte are combined to form VEB Verbundnetz Berlin. “Technische Leitung Ferngas” becomes the gas division of this unit. |
May 1968Agreement between the governments of the USSR and the GDR which includes arrangements for Russian gas imports. |
January 1969The gas division of VEB Verbundnetz Berlin becomes an independent unit called VEB Verbundnetz Gas. |
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1970“Schwarze Pumpe” gas combine set up with responsibility for VEB Verbundnetz Gas. |
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May 1, 1973The GDR receives its first Russian natural gas. Imports rise from 2.7 billion cubic metres per year (1974) to 6.5 billion cubic metres per year (1989). The gas is taken by VEB Verbundnetz Gas at Uzgorod/ Velke Kapusany on the Ukraine/Slovakian border. The gas is transported through former Czechoslovakia to Sayda under long-term transit agreements; at Sayda it is compressed and fed into the Import-Erdgas-(IEG)-System (pipeline system). |
1974To ensure the security of supply three underground storage facilities – Bernburg Bernburg (1974), Buchholz (1976) and Bad Lauchstädt (1976) – with a total capacity of 1,490 million cubic metres are integrated in the IEG system. |
1978East Berlin gradually converted from town gas to natural gas. |
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1982“Urengoi agreement” – under this natural gas delivery agreement between the governments of the USSR and the GDR, the USSR gives a commitment for the reliable and long-term delivery of an annual 0.7 billion cubic metres. In return, the German signatory undertakes to lay natural gas pipelines, build compressor stations and provide equipment in USSR territory. |
January 20, 1986The Yamburg agreement is signed: this agreement concerns cooperation to develop the Yamburg natural gas reservoir, the construction of the transmission pipeline from Yamburg to the Western border of the USSR and other structures relating to the USSR gas industry as well as associated deliveries of natural gas from the USSR to the GDR. |
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Spring 1990Transferring business responsibility to VEB Verbundnetz Gas by separating the unit from the “Schwarze Pumpe” gas combine is prepared in three stages. An independent sales division is set up and structural changes made in the company to adjust to future market demands. VNG receives support from Ruhrgas AG Essen, BEB Hannover, and the economics ministries in Bonn and Berlin. |
April 1, 1990VEB Verbundnetz Gas is completely separated from the “Schwarze Pumpe” gas combine, thus securing the independence of VEB Verbundnetz Gas. |
April 10, 1990Erdgasversorgungsgesellschaft mbH Leipzig (EVG) (today: Erdgasversorgungsgesellschaft Thüringen-Sachsen mbH Erfurt) is founded: VEB Verbundnetz Gas and Ruhrgas AG hold equal shares. |
June 27, 1990A gas supply agreement for two million cubic metres of natural gas is signed with BEB Erdgas und Erdöl GmbH Hannover. |
June 29, 1990Two days before German economic and monetary union comes into effect VEB Verbundnetz Gas becomes Verbundnetz Gas Aktiengesellschaft. Initially, all shares are held by the Treuhandgesellschaft (trust agency) in Berlin. The first – provisional – Executive Board comprises Dr.-Ing. Klaus-Ewald Holst, Lutz Hänsel, Dr.-Ing. Werner Hauenherm, Otto Hülsenbeck and Sigmar Schubert. |
August 16, 1990In a first step, Treuhandgesellschaft sells 45 % of the shares to Ruhrgas AG Essen (35 percent) and BEB Brigitta Erdgas und Erdöl GmbH Hannover (10 percent). Subscribed capital amounts to DM 540 million. All shares are registered shares. |
1991In its first 18 months as a joint stock company, VNG generates sales of DM 5.3 million and delivers 138.6 billion kWh of gas. During this period, the priority tasks were to diversify the sources of gas supply, tie in with the West European gas grid, expand VNG’s own pipeline network and create new business relations with North and Western Europe. |
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September 1992The VNG network ties in with the West German transmission system at Vitzeroda on the border between Thuringia and Hesse. One-sided dependence on Russian natural gas thus comes to an end. The commencement of deliveries from Ruhrgas AG marks the beginning of gas deliveries from western Europe to eastern Germany. |
199384 percent of all households in VNG’s service territory have been converted to natural gas. 1.25 million conversions were carried out in 1993 alone. |
1994At the end of 1994 the natural gas conversion rate is 98.5 percent. Between 1990 and 1994, the length of the entire natural gas grid in eastern Germany expands from 7,800 kilometres to almost 70,000 kilometres. |
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June 1995The last town gas flame in eastern Germany is extinguished in Leipzig, heralding the completion of the conversion program in only four and a half years. During this period, VNG alone invested some DM 1.5 billion in converting roughly 6,100 kilometres of high-pressure pipelines to natural gas, building approximately 700 kilometres of pipelines and increasing storage capacity at its underground storage facilities. |
October 1996An impressive ceremony in Leipzig attended by the President of the Bundestag Prof. Dr. Rita Süssmuth celebrates the beginning of Norwegian natural gas deliveries. |
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March 1997The 500 VNG employees at the Leipzig and Böhlitz-Ehrenberg locations move into the new headquarters at Braunstrasse 7 in the Leipzig-Nordost business park in the space of just one weekend. |
April 2000The Mallnow / Groß Köris delivery station is commissioned, following the Sayda station as the second delivery station for Russian natural gas. |
October 2001VNG sets up the “Verbundnetz der Wärme” community network. The initiative seeks to heighten the profile and popularity of social commitment in the states in the eastern part of Germany. The initiative’s patron is Regine Hildebrandt. |
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August 2002As severe floods hit the region, VNG and its partners and customers provide free natural gas to the people affect by the disaster to help dry out their houses and apartments. The company, its employees and partners donate a total of 4 million euros to help the flood victims in many ways. |
October 2003VNG concludes the first delivery agreement with the Italian company HERA S.p.A.; since then, activities in Italy have steadily expanded. |
January 2006VNG establishes ONTRAS VNG Gastransport GmbH, or ONTRAS for short, on January 1 in order to comply with stipulations of the Energy Industry Act to fully unbundle gas trading and gas transport activities. |
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August 2006VNG announces the founding of VNG Norge AS at ONS - Offshore Northern Seas, the world’s largest offshore technology trade fair and exhibition. |
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October 2006As part of the Petersburg Dialog in Dresden, TU Bergakademie Freiberg and the St. Petersburg State Mining Institute sign a memorandum to establish a permanent German-Russian raw material forum in the presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin. |
November 2007One year after it had been founded VNG Norge acquires the first four production licenses and begins exploring for natural gas in a designated block on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. |
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