Russian President Vladimir Putin Gasunie's involvement in the Nord Stream gas pipeline project would enhance the project's prospects. "The Dutch company's involvement in the Nord Stream project makes the project truly multilateral and of course enhances the prospects for its implementation," Putin said after signing the relevant agreement in the Kremlin.

The project opens up opportunities not just for cooperation between Russia and the Netherlands in Nord Stream but also for "long-term cooperation between Russian and Dutch energy companies in various areas of activity in Europe and perhaps also in third countries," Interfax quoted Putin as saying.

The agreement that Gazprom and Gasunie signed in Moscow on November 6 provides for the transfer to the Dutch company of a nine percent interest in the Nord Stream gas pipeline project. Alexei Miller, the chief executive of Gazprom, told reporters that Gasunie would receive 4.5 percent stakes from each of the project's German partners.

Miller said Gazprom itself would receive nine percent of the BBL project to build a submarine pipeline from the Netherlands to Britain.

N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie's deal struck with Russia's Gazprom to join the Nord Stream gas pipeline project has been estimated at up to 750 million Euro, Gasunie CEO Marcel Kramer told journalists after signing a cooperation agreement with Gazprom in Moscow.

Kramer said this figure is based on the amount of investment that Gasunie, as an investor, will spend in the realisation of the Nord Stream project. He said he does not think Gasunie's investment in the project will exceed 750 million Euro. The transaction will be finalised in a few weeks, he said.

Another agreement will be signed as part of the deal to give Gazprom the option for the purchase of a none percent stake in BBL, a seafloor-based gas pipeline from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom. The sale of a stake in BBL is not a swap deal or an asset exchange transaction, he said. These are completely different projects, he said. Nord Stream is an enormous project, while BBL is significantly smaller in terms of both size and investment. At the same time, he declined to say how much a nine percent stake in BBL would cost.

The deal under which Gaunie joins the Nord Stream project envisions that Gazprom will be entitled to use the gas pipeline network belonging to Gasunie and BBL, including toward Britain. "The agreement that Gazprom and its German partners E.On and Wintershall signed to build the Nord Stream pipeline provided for these possibilities from the outset," Miller said. "Similarly, the agreement entitled Gazprom to name the project's fourth partner," Miller said, adding that Gazprom had invited Gasunie to become the fourth partner.

Gazprom "made this offer to Gasunie, and it was accepted, and we see a strong synergy of opportunities to implement our two (Nord Stream and BBL) projects," Miller said.

Kramer said his company's participation in Nord Stream as the fourth partner underlined the broad scale of the project, as already emphasized by the European Union. Kramer said that drafting the agreement involved a lot of close consultations with specialists regarding the project's specifics. The agreement demonstrates how smoothly and coherently everybody worked together in implementing the project, he said.

Construction of the BBL gas pipeline was completed at the end of 2006 and the project has been operating successfully for almost a year, Kramer said.

Asked whether the construction of new gas storage facilities was planned in the Netherlands, Kramer said there were always new opportunities for cooperation, and that his company would continue to discuss them. The signing of a comprehensive agreement on cooperation with Gazprom aims to ensure Europe's energy security, the CEO of Dutch company Gasunie, Kramer has said.