Suez, Gazprom eyeing Nordstream

Thury-Sous-Clermont - GDF Suez has begun talks with Russian natural gas giant Gazprom that could lead to the French utility taking a stake in a proposed gas pipeline under the Baltic sea, GDF Suez's chief executive said on Friday.

"Yes, we've begun talks with Gazprom," Gerard Mestrallet told reporters at a company seminar. The talks grew out of a meeting between Mestrallet and Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller last December, he said.

"We agreed on the interest of GDF Suez's taking a stake in Nordstream," Mestrallet said. "But it will take time."

Nordstream is a planned Baltic Sea pipeline designed to bypass several European countries and ship Russian gas directly to Germany.

The 1 200km undersea pipeline will eventually carry 55 billion cubic metres of gas each year from the northwestern Russian port of Vyborg to the northern German port of Greifswald, bypassing current routes through Poland, Belarus and Ukraine.

Gazprom holds a 51% stake in the joint venture. German utilities BASF/Wintershall and E.ON Ruhrgas hold 20% each. Gasunie of the Netherlands has a 9% share.

- AP