Posted on 12/22/2005 9:00:27 PM PST by jb6
MOSCOW, December 22 (RIA Novosti) - Russian energy giant Gazprom said Thursday it would step up cooperation with Gaz de France on potentially supplying natural gas to France and neighboring countries through the North European Gas Pipeline (NEGP).
The agreement to build the 4.7 billion euro 1200-km NEGP was signed September 8 by Russian energy giant Gazprom and Germany's BASF AG and E.ON AG.
The first leg of the pipeline, connecting the Baltic seashore near the Russian city of Vyborg with Germany's Greifswald region, is set to come on-stream in 2010. Offshoots may then be built to link it with the Kaliningrad Region (Russia's exclave surrounded by the EU), Scandinavia, the UK, and other countries.
The Gazprom-Gaz de France cooperation committee held a session in Moscow Thursday to discuss progress in implementing the cooperation protocol signed in September 2005, which, along with the NEGP project, envisages cooperation on liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects and joint efforts to sustain energy security in Europe.
Gazprom and Gaz de France have been cooperating since 1975. Since then, the Russian gas monopoly has supplied more than 260 billion cu m of natural gas to France.
Under effective long-term contracts, Gaz de France imports 12 billion cu m of natural gas from Russia annually.
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