German utility company, RWE (Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk AG) and a state-owned Qatari entity announced that they are currently are in negotiations about a proposal to buy RWE's DEA (Deutsche Erdöl-Aktiengesellschaft) oil and gas exploration and production unit. RWE said that is was planning to sell DEA to slash the capital spending of the company and to cut its debt pile. Analysts valued the unit at about Euros5-8 billion or something in the area of US$6.52 to US$10.43 billion.

Analyts are saying that the initial talks between Qatar and DEA to buy the oil and gas exploration and production unit are unlikely to proceed quickly due to the recent turnover of power by former Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani to his son Sheikh Tamim.

Wintershall, a subsidiary of BASF, to date are the only company that expressed an interest in buying DEA. RWE is saying that it does not expect the unit to be sold this year. Wintershall is a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF which is based in Ludwigshafen. They are the largest producer of natural gas and crude oil in Germany.

RWE is a German electric utilities company based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia which supplies electric and gas to millions of customer in Europe. RWE previously owned American Water, the largest US investor-owned water utility, but this was divested in 2008.