By Christopher Alessi And Sarah Sloat 

FRANKFURT-- BASF SE's decision to call off a long-planned asset-swap deal with Russia's OAO Gazprom wasn't the result of political pressure from the German government, the German Economics Ministry said Friday.

BASF, the world's largest chemical company by revenue, announced Thursday it had canceled the deal with Russian state gas group Gazprom amid mounting political tensions between Russia and the West.

BASF, through its wholly-owned oil and gas unit, Wintershall AG, had planned to divest itself of its gas trading and storage operations through an asset exchange with Gazprom. The trade, announced in November 2012, would have given Wintershall access to natural-gas fields in Siberia.

"This is a corporate process. From the German side, there was no political influence over the deal," said Julia Modes, a spokesperson for the ministry. "For us, it is only important that the gas supply or the security of supply is not threatened, and we don't see that."

The collapse of the deal means BASF now expects an only "slightly higher" increase in earnings before interest and taxes for 2014, rather than the "considerable rise" the company previously forecast, as it won't collect expected income from the transaction.

"Due to the current difficult political environment, BASF and Gazprom have decided not to complete the asset swap planned for the end of the year," a spokeswoman for BASF said.

Relations between Russia and the West have been increasingly strained since the Russian annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region last spring. Biting European and U.S. sanctions have squeezed the Russian economy and further isolated Moscow from the international community in recent months, while German companies like BASF have come under pressure from the German government to limit business ties with Russia.

Gazprom's European operations have also been squeezed. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in early December that Gazprom would no longer pursue its South Stream pipeline project, which would have been used to supply natural gas to Europe via Bulgaria. EU leaders had suspended work on the pipeline amid the worsening crisis in Ukraine and growing concerns that it could make Russia the dominant supplier of natural gas in Europe.

The asset swap between BASF and Gazprom had been delayed for roughly a year, but BASF Chief Executive Kurt Bock said as recently as early December that the deal was still on track to be completed by the end of 2014. In October, Mr. Bock called the asset swap a "good and reasonable decision," suggesting the transaction had only been held up by technical issues, rather than political concerns.

BASF's natural-gas trading business, largely housed under its Wingas GmbH division, will continue to operate as a 50-50 joint venture between Gazprom and Wintershall, BASF said.

As part of the swap, Gazprom would have acquired BASF's share in that business. The Russian company would have also received a 50% share in BASF's 100%-owned North Sea oil exploration and production unit Wintershall Noordzee. In return, Gazprom and Wintershall planned to jointly develop two blocks of the Urengoi natural gas field in western Siberia.

The combined activities of BASF's planned divestitures contributed around EUR12 billion ($15 billion) to sales and about EUR500 million to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in 2013, the company said. BASF said it would also book expenses resulting from the canceled deal of EUR113 million for 2013 and EUR211 million for 2014.

Wintershall, Germany's largest crude oil and natural-gas producer, has been a "big strength of BASF," said Mike Smith, a vice president in the chemicals division of consulting firm IHS Global and a former BASF employee.

For a company that produces an array of chemicals, having an oil and gas division like Wintershall is a "natural hedge against changes in energy prices," Mr. Smith said.

BASF's chemical business has been hurt by weakening demand for chemicals in Europe and a slowing global economy, forcing the company in October to lower its guidance for 2015. At that time, Mr. Bock cited the situation in Ukraine as one of the biggest global challenges facing the company, saying it had seen a 25% decline in its business in Ukraine and a negative impact on operations in Russia.

Mr. Putin acknowledged Thursday during an annual news conference that Western sanctions were hurting the country's economy, while blaming Western powers for a growing divide between Russia and Europe.

Mr. Putin also cited external economic pressures, including a fall in global oil prices, that have caused the Russian ruble to collapse over the past week. The ruble has dropped almost 50% against the dollar this year.

Andrea Thomas in Berlin contributed to this article.

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