02/25/2009 | Сергій Кабуд

Gazprom hopes to conclude $2.5 billion Nigeria gas deal in March
http://www.platts.com/Natural%20Gas/News/8378527.xml?sub=Natural%20Gas&p=Natural%20Gas/News&?undefined&undefined
Abuja (Platts)--25Feb2009

Russian gas giant Gazprom Wednesday said it hopes to conclude a $2.5
billion investment plan in Nigerian gas exploration in March.

A joint Russian-Nigerian company will be formed, Vladimir Ilyanin,
managing director of Gazprom Nigeria told reporters on the sidelines of the
CWC-organized conference in the capital Abuja.

Last September, NNPC signed an MOU with Gazprom--the provider of a
quarter of Europe's gas--in a move which analysts said reflected its keen
interest in Nigeria as its attempts to tighten its grip on Europe's natural
gas supplies.

However, Gazprom is expected to focus most of its initial investment on
improving Nigeria's domestic gas industry, which has operated far below its
full capacity because of a lack of funds and insecurity in the Niger delta.

Gazprom last year offered to invest billions of dollars in developing the
West African country's underperforming gas sector and said it was
interested in participating in a $10 billion Trans-Saharan Pipeline project
that will pipe Nigerian gas to Europe across the Sahara.