Gazprom celebrates 40th anniversary of first Russian gas supply to France

Gazprom has hosted an event to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of its first contract signed with France for Russian gas. The Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, Alexey Miller, and the CEO of ENGIE, Gerard Mestrallet, both attended.

Miller said: “Today we celebrate the 40^th anniversary of our cooperation, 40 years of stable supplies of Russian gas to France. This is a clear testament of constructive, mutually beneficial relations between two world-class companies. We proceed in our cooperation with ENGIE based on long-term contracts, which constitute an important element of energy security in France.

“Today, we also celebrate another jubilee – five years ago, ENGIE became a partner in Nord Stream. Today, the success of the project is known to everyone, so in September we and our European partners, including of course ENGIE, made a decision to construct Nord Stream 2. The project will bring to the European market additional 55 billion m³ of Russian gas.”

Mestrallet said: “We are happy to celebrate with Gazprom the anniversary of the long-term solid partnership uniting our companies. It has considerably contributed to developing the European gas industry. ENGIE's participation in the Nord Stream 2 project bespeaks our faith in continuing this cooperation.Natural gas is of key importance for upgrading the energy sector, particularly, for reaching the European Union targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.”

Miller and Mestrallet also signed an Addendum to the Sales and Purchase Agreement for shares of the Nord Stream 2 joint project company (JPC), which executes Nord Stream 2. This will increase ENGIE’s stake to 10%, whilst Gazprom will hold 50%, and BASF, E.ON, OMV and Shell will also hold 10%.

Edited from press release by David Rowlands

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/regasification/16112015/gazprom-celebrates-40-anniversary-of-first-russian-gas-supply-to-france-1629/