Gazprom OJSC does not exclude the participation of Italian ENI in new projects on the Yamal Peninsula, RBC reports.
Official representative of Russian company Sergei Kupriyanov told media about it in Rome. "We have successful multilateral cooperation in supply, transportation, gas and mining projects with ENI. Perhaps, they (ENI) will have a chance to participate in the new projects to be implemented on the Yamal Peninsula. However, he stressed that the specific options for the participation of Italians in the Yamal project has not been discussed yet. "There is no such a project yet. First, it is necessary to collect all the ideas existing on this regards, including European partners' ones", the official representative of Gazprom, S. Kupriyanov, said.
Italy is the third largest importer of Russia's gas in Europe. Gazprom supplied Italy with 22.4 billion cubic meters in 2008. Gazprom and ENI signed the strategic partnership agreement in November 2006. In accordance with the agreement Gazprom has got an opportunity to implement direct Russian gas supplies to the Italian market since 2007. Volumes of supplies gradually increase to 3 billion cubic meters. In accordance with the agreement, existing contracts on Russian gas supplies to Italy have been extended till 2035.