Russ Oil-Gas

MOSCOW, June 10 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom's gas delivery prices for Europe have reached $410 per 1,000 cubic meters, the Russian energy giant's CEO said on Tuesday. "Today, the average price of our deliveries to Europe has reached $410," Alexei Miller told the European Business Congress in France. Miller also said that there had been a number of comments from Europe proposing a diversification of energy supplies. "Europe's desire to diversify energy sources is understandable. But it seems that such statements are based on the somewhat strange idea that any alternative is preferable to Russian energy supplies. This flawed viewpoint cannot be justified," he said. The bulk of Russia's gas supplies to the European Union, which account for one quarter of the 27-nation bloc's consumption, run through Ukraine. A gas pricing dispute with Ukraine at the start of 2006 prompted Russia to briefly cut supplies off to the former Soviet republic. Europe-bound exports were also affected. Miller also said Slovenia could take part in the South Stream project to build a European gas pipeline. "At meetings during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, we agreed that Slovenia and Austria could participate in the project," the Gazprom chief executive said, adding that Gazprom was successfully implementing this project together with Italy's Eni. "We have already concluded agreements with Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia and Greece and held successful talks with other potential transit countries," he said. The South Stream project is expected to transport 10 billion cu m of Russian gas annually across the Black Sea to the Balkans and onto other European countries, with the first deliveries scheduled to start in 2013. Miller also said Gazprom was considering further extending the capacity of the Nord Stream pipeline above the previously announced annual 55 billion cu m. The Nord Stream pipeline, which Gazprom is building together with Germany's E.ON under the Baltic Sea at an estimated cost of $12 billion, will pump Russian natural gas directly to Germany.