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By David Pearson and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES PARIS/MOSCOW -(Dow Jones)- French power company Electricite de France SA (EDF.FR) Friday signed an agreement with Russian gas giant OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) to cooperate on the South Stream gas pipeline project--yet another sign of tightened energy cooperation between the two countries.
EdF will take a 10% stake in the project, Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said, attending a meeting in Paris between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy.
Gazprom said a final agreement will be reached between Gazprom, Italy's Eni (E) and EdF next week. Eni's Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni said Thursday that EdF's admission depends on Eni's approval.
The South Stream project, a joint venture between Eni SpA (E), Italy's biggest energy company by market value, and Gazprom, the world's biggest producer of natural gas, aims to bring natural gas from the Caspian area, under the Black Sea, and ashore in Bulgaria, bypassing Ukraine.
Since a January pricing dispute between Russia and Ukraine caused supplies of Russian gas to European customers to be cut off, Gazprom has been exploring other routes to ship its gas West.
"The participation of a French company in the South Stream project underscores the pan-European scale of the pipeline," said Miller.
Another French energy company GDF Suez SA (GSZ.FR) may take a 9% stake in Nord Stream--a sister project to the South Stream pipeline--carrying Russian gas under the Baltic Sea to Germany.
GDF Suez said Friday its Chief Executive Gerard Mestrallet had Thursday held a "constructive dialogue with Gazprom's Miller to outline conditions which will enable GDF Suez to obtain a minority share of 9% in Nord Stream's capital."
The developments underscore how France has become one of Russia's preferred energy partners. In 2007 Russia chose French oil major Total SA (TOT) to take a 25% stake in the giant Shtokman gas condensate field in the Barents Sea. And in September this year Putin invited Total to participate in the development of the Yamal Peninsula, Russia's new untapped natural gas region.
-By David Pearson and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, Dow Jones Newswires; +33140171740, david.pearson@dowjones.com
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Publié le 27 novembre 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones

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