Russ Oil-Gas

Oct. 13, 2008 - Kommersant - Gaz de France Suez, formed from the merger of Gaz de France and the Franco-Belgian Suez, Europe’s largest gas concern, has signed a development strategy with Russia through 2013, Jean-Francois Cirelli, deputy general director of the Franco-Belgian company announced on Friday. Investment details are not set yet but, after negotiations last week in Paris with Vlada Rusakova, Gazprom board member and head of the development, science and ecology department, potential projects were divided into two groups: retail gas sales (Gazprom has received a quota of 1.5 billion cu. m. on the French market per year) and production, purchases and sales of gas to industrial users and distribution companies. In May, Gazprom Marketing & Trading USA signed a contract to supply 100-percent of the liquefied natural gas for the Rabaska regasification terminal in Quebec, Canada, from the Shtockman deposit beginning in 2014. That is Gazprom’s largest investment in North America so far. Now it has become known that GdF Suez and the Canadian Gaz Metro and Enbrodge Embreg companies will offer Gazprom 27 percent in the Rabaska project. The share of GdF in Rabaska will fall from 33.3 percent to 23 percent, and the Canadian companies’ shares will fall from 33.3 percent to 25 percent. GdF is the world’s top seller of liquefied natural gas. It owns shares in gas liquefaction plants in Egypt, Norway and Latin America. It owns 15 liquefied natural gas tankers and is building five more. The company’s electric plants in France has a combined capacity of 6 GW, with plans to increase it of 1o GW in France and 100 GW worldwide. GdF Suez’s receipts in 2007 came to €74.3 billion with profits of €13 billion.