Gazprom arm, EDF agree on trans-Atlantic gas swap
22 Oct 2009
Gazprom Marketing & Trading (GM&T), a subsidiary of the Russian energy giant Gazprom, and French power group Electricite de France (EDF) have agreed to swap natural gas between the US and European markets, which will allow the Russian giant to further penetrate the US markets, the company said in a statement yesterday.
''EDF will deliver to Gazprom in the US a quantity of 0.5 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year (about 50 million cubic feet per day) for the next five years. Gazprom will deliver to EDF Trading the same quantity of natural gas per year in the UK within the same time period,'' GM&T said on Tuesday.
''This agreement enables us to ramp up our US operation and provides us with gas supplies in areas of strategic importance,'' the company's CEO, Vitaly Vasiliev, was quoted as saying.
The statement also quoted John Rittenhouse, CEO of EDF Trading, as saying: "We are looking forward to expanding our relationship with Gazprom. This agreement will help extend the coverage of our gas business beyond Europe..."
Earlier this month, the Gazprom unit said it had begun trading and marketing natural gas in North America, the first foray into the United States by a Gazprom group company.
Gazprom Marketing & Trading Ltd is a UK-registered wholly-owned subsidiary of Gazprom, established in 1999.
