French energy company GDF Suez SA (GSZ.FR) will become a shareholder in the OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS)-led Nord Stream gas pipeline project by October, Gazprom's Deputy Chief Executive Alexander Medvedev said Monday.
GDF Suez is negotiating with Russia's state-controlled Gazprom to take a 9% stake in the Nord Stream pipeline project through the Baltic Sea to secure supplies of Russian natural gas.
GDF Suez' accession can be expected in late September or October, when all decisions should be agreed, Medvedev said.
Gazprom's German partners in the project - the Ruhrgas subsidiary of E.ON AG (EOAN.XE) and BASF AG (BAS.XE) subsidiary Wintershall AG - have agreed to cede part of their stake in Nord Stream, so the French company would have the same size stake as Dutch minor partner Nederlandse Gasunie NV, which owns 9%, Gazprom said.
Wintershall Holding and E.ON Ruhrgas currently hold 20% each, while the Russian gas monopoly has a 51% stake.
The 1,220 kilometer pipeline will begin operations in 2011 with annual capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters of gas, doubling to 55 billion cubic meters a year by 2012.