Russia's gas giant OAO Gazprom is seeking to enter Italy's lucrative power market as part of a deal formalized in February with Italian oil and gas company Eni SpA, financial daily Milano Finanza reported Tuesday.
The deal signed in February extended the Russian company's deadline to supply gas to Eni to 2035 from 2017, and allowed Gazprom to sell gas directly to Italy. Gazprom will be able to import into Italy up to 3 billion cubic meters annually of gas by 2010.
Gazprom is now looking at supplying some of that gas to Italian power company Enel SpA - in return for a minority stake in a new company in which Enel will transfer some of its gas-fired electricity plants, the financial daily said.
Gazprom consultants Ernst & Young are at work finalizing the list of Enel assets in which the Russian company is set to take a minority stake, MF said.
Last week, Enel said it was looking at possible deals with Gazprom in Europe as part of its relations with the Russian energy behemoth, including "a series of entry possibilities in our (power) assets."