French president welcomes Gazprom team

PARIS, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- French officials welcomed Gazprom chief Alexei Miller to discuss bilateral energy issues related to natural gas pipelines through Europe, the company announced.

Miller met Thursday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss progress on joint projects between Gazprom and companies working in the French energy sector.

"Miller noted that close interaction among Europe's largest energy companies boosted economic development of the whole continent while joint projects of Russia and France laid a cornerstone for strategic partnership in the global energy market," Gazprom said in a statement.

French energy company GDF Suez is a minority shareholder in the Nord Stream gas pipeline, which is to start shipping Russian gas through the Baltic Sea this year. EDF is to become a shareholder in the South Stream project that Gazprom plans for southern Europe.

Both projects are meant to diversify Russian export options by avoiding geopolitically sensitive territory in Ukraine.

France is one of the largest export markets for Gazprom. French supermajor Total, meanwhile, holds a 25 percent interest in the Shtokman gas field in Russia, one of the largest in the world.