BP ready to tie into Nord Stream

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MOSCOW, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- An artery extending from the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline will reach from Russia to British ports in a matter of years, a BP spokesman confirmed.

A report last weekend in The Daily Mail newspaper in London stated that BP was in "secret talks" with Russian energy company Gazprom to build a British extension to the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline.

Vladimir Buyanov, a spokesman for BP in Russia, told Voice of Russia that BP is working on the terms of an agreement with the Nord Stream pipeline consortium, controlled by Gazprom.

The twin Nord Stream pipeline runs from Russia's eastern ports through the Baltic Sea to Germany. Buyanov said the extension would eventually stretch to Norfolk on the British east coast, the Russian report stated.

The British government, the report states, is eager to diversify an energy sector that relies on imports of liquefied natural gas and dwindling reserves in the North Sea.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and Russian President Vladimir Putin are said to have discussed the project during meetings on the sidelines of the Summer Olympic in London.

The Voice of Russia states that BP may pay a $300 million "admission fee" to join Nord Stream. The extension, it said, would take about two years to complete.