Russ Oil-Gas

NOVO-OGRAYEVO. Nov 28 (Interfax) - Germany's E.ON AG is prepared to expand its presence in the Russian economy, E.ON CEO Wolf Bernotat told Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at a meeting in Moscow on Friday. "Following long talks with [Gazprom CEO Alexei] Miller, we are going to participate in the development and exploitation of the Yuzhno-Russkoye field. This is also very important, but I don't think it should be just restricted to this. We are prepared to consider options for a partnership in other projects," he said. E.ON is Europe's largest private electricity and gas concern. The company delivers electricity, gas and water to more than 21 million consumers. E.ON has turnover of 69 billion euros per year and the company's shares are traded on the DAX. In Russia, E.ON is planning to expand production capacity by 28% before 2011. The expansion in production capacity will be made possible by the construction of four steam and gas installations at the Surgutskaya, Shaturskaya and Yaivinskaya state district power plants as well as a steam turbine unit at the Berezovskaya SDPP, all of which are part of Wholesale Generating Company No. 4 (OGK-4) (RTS: OGKD), in which E.ON owns 76%. The group also includes Essen-based E.ON Ruhrgas AG, which owns a roughly 6.5% stake in Gazprom. A key buyer of Russian natural gas, E.ON Ruhrgas is cooperating with Gazprom (RTS: GAZP) in the Nord Stream pipeline project. To carry out the project, E.ON, Gazprom and BASF set up an operation company Nord Stream AG for the construction of the pipeline in December 2005.