GDF Suez eyes Nord Stream role

PARIS, July 30 (UPI) -- French utility giant GDF Suez is in negotiations with Russian partners to examine its participation in the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline.

Sebastian Sass, the Nord Stream envoy to the European Union, said negotiations with project shareholders are moving in the right direction, though discussions are still in their early stages, European news portal EurActiv reports.

"GDF is interested in joining the Nord Stream company," he said. "I can confirm that the other shareholders are positive about this interest of GDF. But anything else is subject to negotiations."

Alexander Medvedev, the deputy chief at Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, said any talks with GDF Suez would mean German shareholders -- oil and gas producer Wintershall and energy company E.ON -- may have to reduce their stake in the project.

Nord Stream would travel along a dual 758-mile route through the Baltic Sea to bring Russian gas to European markets through Germany. It would have the transit capacity to supply some 25 million households with natural gas.

Littoral states to the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland have expressed concerns over the environmental impact of pipeline construction, which is hampered by unexploded ordnance strewn along the Baltic Sea floor.