Russian gas firm OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) will sign a deal Friday with Italy's Eni SpA (E) on the South Stream pipeline, a Gazprom spokesman said Thursday without giving details.
The document will be signed during a meeting between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi in Sochi on Friday.
"All details on the agreement will be given tomorrow," the spokesman said without elaborating.
Eni Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni met Wednesday with Russian officials in Moscow in an effort to reach an accord on South Stream.
The project - seen as a rival to the European Union-backed Nabucco pipeline - aims to carry Russian and Caspian gas to Western Europe via a pipeline under the Black Sea that lands in Bulgaria, bypassing Ukraine.