By Marcel van de Hoef and Fred Pals
June 28 (Bloomberg) — Gasunie NV, operator of the Dutch gas-pipeline network, is in a “phase of final decision-making” on a possible purchase of 9 percent of Nord Stream AG, said Pieter Trienekens, a Gasunie board member.
Nord Stream is an OAO Gazprom-led venture that’s building an underwater natural-gas pipeline linking Russia to Germany. Gazprom asked Gasunie to buy a 9 percent stake in the venture, Trienekens said at a gas conference in Amsterdam today, following similar comments made by company executives.
The 1,200-kilometer (745-mile) Nord Stream pipeline, due to become operational in 2010, is an effort by Gazprom to increase supplies to Western Europe and avoid transit countries such as Belarus and Ukraine.
To contact the reporters on this story: Marcel van de Hoef in Amsterdam at [email protected] ; Fred Pals in Amsterdam at [email protected]
Last Updated: June 28, 2007 09:51 EDT