Russ Oil-Gas

24 January 2008 - Upstream OnLine - Russia's Gazprom will choose a partner next month for its $3.5 billion project to build a liquefied natural gas plant on the Baltic Sea. "The Gazprom board of directors will most likely make a decision on their partner in February," a spokesman for the company said. Speaking at an event to introduce two new E.On board members in Russia, the spokesman said the LNG project, to be built in the St Petersburg area by 2013 was down to five possible partners. Previously Gazprom officials have mentioned Petro-Canada, BP, Italy's Eni, Japan's Mitsui and Mitsubishi, Spain's Iberdrola and a Malaysian company for Baltic LNG. Kupriyanov did not name the partner candidates, and told reporters the list of possible partners was trimmed to four in December, and that one new candidate had recently emerged.