GDF Suez eyes Exxon/Shell German gas assets: report

PARIS (Reuters) - French energy group GDF Suez (GSZ.PA) is interested in acquiring gas storage assets in Germany worth around 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) put up for sale by Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) and Shell (RDSa.L), Le Figaro newspaper said on Saturday.

Citing a source close to GDF, the paper said the group was in competition with infrastructure investment subsidiaries of Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), Axa (AXAF.PA) and Prudential (PRU.L) for the assets.

A spokeswoman for GDF Suez declined to comment, saying the group would neither confirm nor deny the report.

Shell and Exxon Mobil launched the sale of German gas storage joint venture BEB Erdgas und Erdoel GmbH last June.

Le Figaro said GDF Suez was still in the market to snap up assets, having only dented its 10 billion euro war chest after it took control of International Power but failed in a bid for Polish utility Energa.

Germany is GDF Suez's third-largest market for gas supply and second-largest for storage, where it owns over 600 million cubic meters of capacity.

If it succeeds in its bid for the Uelsen and Harsefeld assets situated in the north-west of Germany, the company would take its capacity to 1.5 billion cubic meters, the paper said.

The paper cited the GDF source in saying the firm was still interested in the Polish energy market and was in contention to take Enea (ENEA.ST), Poland's third-largest electricity provider.

(Reporting by Bate Felix, editing by Jane Baird)

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