Court Rejects Moncrief Suit Against BASF

A German court on Thursday rejected a lawsuit by Moncrief Oil International that sought to void a joint venture between BASF and Gazprom to develop a Siberian gas field.

Forth Worth, Texas-based Moncrief, a privately held U.S. gas company, sued BASF, contending that a deal between Gazprom and BASF's Wintershall unit should not be permitted because the U.S. company had already signed a deal with Gazprom in the late 1990s.

Manfred Nax, a judge at the Frankenthal district court, said Moncrief did not sufficiently demonstrate that BASF knowingly entered the deal with Gazprom at Moncrief's expense.

A spokesman for Moncrief was not immediately available for comment.

BASF maintains that Moncrief's claims are without merit.

Gazprom, which is not named in the lawsuit, has not commented on the case.