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Gazprom talks with Israel on gas supplies stalled: report
AFP
MOSCOW
Petroleumworld.com 05 12 06
Russia's state-controlled gas giant Gazprom and Israel reached a deadlock this week in talks on building a new pipeline to pump Russian natural gas to the Jewish state, the Russian daily Kommersant said Thursday.
Citing a source close to the talks, the Kommersant daily said Gazprom wanted one of its subsidiaries to build the pipeline but Israel wanted the project to be handled by an Israeli business.
The deputy chief executive of the group, Alexander Medvedev, met with Elie Ronen, head of Israel's ministry of national infrastructure, on Wednesday and the two "had talks on gas supplies," Gazprom's press office said.
A spokesman for the Israeli ministry contacted by AFP said possible Russian gas deliveries to Israel via Turkey had been discussed at the meeting.
After meeting Gazprom's chief executive Alexei Miller in March, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had said a deal on gas supplies could be agreed within a year.
Gazprom, which controls almost a quarter of the world's natural gas reserves, is actively seeking new markets in Asia, the Middle East and the United States.
The company plans to double supplies pumped through the Blue Stream pipeline linking southern Russia to Turkey under the Black Sea to supply Greece and Israel.
AFP 11 1513 GMT 05 06
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