BASF SE (BAS) ’s oil and gas arm agreed to buy assets from Norway’s Statoil ASA (STL) for $1.25 billion, diversifying energy supplies for Germany’s biggest chemical maker as relations between Europe and Russia worsen. BASF’s Wintershall is acquiring a share in two producing fields, two development projects, the Polarled pipeline project and a share in four exploration licenses, the Ludwigshafen, Germany-based company said today in an e-mailed statement. Wintershall’s daily production in Norway will increase 50 percent to about 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent. The Norwegian deal will make BASF, Germany’s largest industrial user of gas, less reliant on supplies from Russia as the U.S. and European Union ratchet up sanctions in response to the conflict in Ukraine. An asset swap with OAO Gazprom (OGZD) , agreed to in 2012 and expected to close this autumn, was set to boost Russia’s share of BASF’s supply to more than […]