BP Plc is one of four companies shortlisted to partner with Gazprom in a $3.7 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on the Baltic Sea, the Russian gas monopoly's deputy chief executive said on June 13.
"It was BP on the list, and we are planning to have a management committee session in the next several weeks, which will consider the feasibility of the Baltic LNG project," Alexander Medvedev told Reuters in an interview. "Subject to the positive decision of the management committee, we will intensify negotiations with the members of the list."
Gazprom has not named the full list of potential partners for the plant in the Leningrad region that it is considering building together with PetroCanada.
In April, the project's head, Alexander Krasnenkov said the list included one Canadian, one Japanese and a European firm.
Japan's Mitsui and Co and Mitsubishi Corp, Britain's BG Group and Russian-British TNK-BP have also shown interest in the project, sources have said.
The shortlist announcement, originally expected last September, has been deferred several times and looks like it could be delayed further. Last year, Krasnenkov said 15 of the 17 firms Gazprom had invited to participate showed interest.
Gazprom will keep 51 percent of the project, while the foreign partners would share 49 percent, the company had earlier said. Based on an investment study completed, the project is likely to cost around $3.7 billion to build the plant with capacity of up to 5 million tonnes of LNG per year.
Medvedev also reiterated that Gazprom was not about to buy Britain's Centrica or Scottish and Southern Energy, whose shares rose on June 11 on speculation of a bid spurred by comments at the weekend regarding a possible UK deal.
"My statement didn't refer to any particular public company because such statements are not allowed by the acquisition rules in the UK," Medvedev said on the sidelines of the Asia Oil and Gas Conference.
Medvedev had said in Russia that the firm would seal a deal "in the near future" to increase its customer base in the United Kingdom, giving no further details. Gazprom officials denied any bid for Centrica or SSE.
Gazprom - the world's largest gas producer and supplier of a quarter of Europe's gas needs via pipelines - has yet to produce its own LNG, which allows super-cooled gas to travel much longer distances in tankers.
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