The Gazprom headquarters hosted today a working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Company's Management Committee and Antonio Zanardi Landi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Italian Republic to the Russian Federation.

In the course of the negotiations the parties addressed the cooperation prospects for both countries in the petroleum sector.

Special attention was paid to South Stream, with Italian Eni being a partner in the project implementation, as well as the interaction of Gazprom with Italian companies as part of joint projects for hydrocarbons exploration and production.

Alexey Miller and Antonio Zanardi Landi highlighted the importance of such meetings for reinforcing the relations between Italy and Russia based on a traditional partnership spirit.

Background

Italy is a major European importer of Russian gas and Gazprom is connected by long-standing partnership relations with Italian companies. In 2010 the amount of gas supplied by Gazprom to Italy amounted to 13.05 billion cubic meters.

The year of 2009 was the 40th anniversary of the contract on natural gas supplies to the Apennine Peninsula signed between Eni and the Foreign Trade Ministry of the USSR.

In November 2006 Gazprom and Eni inked the Strategic Partnership Agreement, pursuant to which the existing contracts for Russian gas supplies to Italy were extended until 2035. As a result, Gazprom began to directly supply the Italian market with Russian gas in the amount of up to 3 billion cubic meters a year in 2007 and was entitled to acquire stakes in Eni's international assets.

Eni also participates in the South Stream project.